Cummins pays tribute to "lightning in the bottle" late Shane Warne on 55th birth anniversary

Melbourne [Australia], September 13 : Australian skipper Pat Cummins on Friday paid tribute to the late spin great and "lightning in the bottle" Shane Warne on his 55th birth anniversary by reading out a heartfelt poem dedicated to the legend.
The 'King of Spin' Warne would have turned 55-years-old on this day (September 13, 2024).
In a video posted by cricket.com.au, Cummins read out a four-minute-long poem, starting with, "In your mind's eye, still you see him, standing calm atop his mark. Ball in hand, it is fizzing, as he looks around the park. He waits another heartbeat, points his fielders where to go. It is all part of the magic act, it is all part of the show. His walk begins, deliberate, it builds towards its height. He lets it go, the rest we know--has there been a better sight?"
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But Cummins said that the departure of Warne means that the "sport will never be the same". He questioned himself that where fans and players alike could start to explain Warne and his impact, calling him an "otherworldly gift". Cummins said that one can talk about his "wicked spin", "endless flight", "charisma," "the hair" among other things.
"But now it's gone forever, our sport will never be the same. And so we ponder how to honour a true icon of the game, For where to start with Shane Keith Warne, that otherworldly gift?. We could talk about the wicked spin, the endless flight, the drift. We could talk about the wickets and the bluster and the guile. We could talk about the character, the look, the hair, the smile. We could talk about charisma, a bush ballad come to life. We could talk about the dramas and the trouble, and the strife. We could talk about the slider and the leg breaks, and the flipper. We can contemplate a world in which he was full-time Aussie skipper," said Cummins.
"But single takes won't encapsulate this giant of the sport. A Melbourne kid with cricket nous that simply cannot be taught. We are reflecting on an icon here, Australia's finest sprig of wattle. This is Shane Warne--the king--the lightning in a bottle. For such a man, we need to go beyond the one-off traits. Where history meets destiny, and a wider legacy awaits," he added.
Cummins said that on thinking of Warne, one can think, "miracles and magic" and "spin bowling redefined".
"Think generations spellbound, think unique, one of a kind. Think mastery and sleight of hand unmatched in cricket's lore. Think phenomenon, a genius who allowed an art to soar. We can marvel at the theatre, a crowd expectant, still. We are all in awe and in his palm, the game bent to his will. We are watching and we're waiting as our showman owns the stage. We are witnessing the golden glow of Australia's golden age," he added.
Cummins also mentioned some notable moments of his career, such as his bowling against likes of Mike Gatting (to whom he bowled the 'Ball of the Century'), Herschelle Gibbs, Alec Stewart, and Andrew Strauss, among others, his 20-wicket campaign in the 1999 Cricket World Cup which started Australia's golden run in the sport, a Ashes hat-trick in 1994, among others.
"Then each of us will zero in on moments we hold dearest. The balls that somehow shaped our lives, the ones we still see clearest. Richardson and Cullinan, you remember who was batting. Gibbs, Strauss, and Stewart, and you will always treasure Gatting. A hat-trick in the Ashes, a World Cup spun his way. The comeback in Sri Lanka, that final Boxing Day. So take your pick and go there in the quiet of your mind.Just close your eyes and conjure - this is what he leaves behind," he said.
The skipper said that though wickets can be tallied, the emotions of fans cannot be measured and the feelings he stirred in people and their "simple sense of pleasure" cannot be described. He also said that while Warne was "extraordinary," he was also "fallible and flawed".
"The wickets we can tally up, but the emotions we cannot measure up, the feelings, the feelings he stirred in us--the simple sense of pleasure. A chubby blonde in cricket whites, he took up the ball in 12, and in 15 years, he cast his spell on the cricket world. He was just a bloke, extraordinary, fallible, and flawed. It meant he felt like one of us, made him all the more adored, which is why he left us grappling, left the cricket world defeated," Cummins said.
The skipper said that the loss of Warne has left everyone depleted and called him the "greatest bowler ever born.".
"From Launceston to the Long Room, we've all been left depleted. But flip that thought and think instead of how enriched we are by Warne. Let's salute a pure entertainer and to the greatest bowler ever born," he concluded.
Over the course of a golden career, which saw him shatter several records in cricket and set his own, the legendary Australian leg-spinner wowed his fans as much with his flowing blonde mane as with his signature 'flippers' and sharp turners, left an impact on the gentleman's game that is likely to stand the test of time.
Warne passed away on March 4 after a heart attack while vacationing in Thailand. One of the most loved and followed cricketers in history, the Victorian single-handedly reinvented the art of leg-spin when he burst onto the international scene in the early 1990s.
And, by the time he bid adieu to the sport in 2007, Warne had become the first bowler to collect 700 Test wickets.
Warne finished his international career with 708 Test wickets and a further 293 in One-Day Internationals, placing him second on the list of all-time international wicket-takers behind his great friend and rival Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka at 1,347.
Warne, known to his Baggy Green mates as 'Warnie', also captained Australia in 11 One-Day Internationals, winning 10 and losing just once.