MCG to rename Great Southern Stand in honor of Shane Warne
Shane Warne (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
The local boy from Melbourne, Shane Warne was very close to his city. The Melbourne Cricket Ground is now honouring the legacy that he built at the venue. In honour of Australian icon Shane Warne, who passed away on March 4, Victorian Sports Minister Martin Pakula announced that the Great Southern Stand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) will be renamed the S.K. Warne Stand.
The passing away of Warne has left everyone in shock as he died at the young age of 52. The legendary leg-spinner passed away from a suspected heart attack at his villa in Thailand on Friday. Many players and fans have since come in to express their grief and celebrate what Shane Warne stood for.
Sydney Morning Herald reported Pakula saying, “I don’t want to talk through talk about the renaming process other than to say I had a conversation with Dan a couple of hours ago and he’s exchanged messages with Shane’s brother and whilst they might be a technical process that would normally be gone through, sometimes you need to dispense with that.”
“You need to respond in the way that I think the whole community would think is appropriate,” he added.
Notably, Shane Warne had some great memories at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which was also his home ground. One of the major moments for him at this venue was when he got his 700th Test wicket. This, at the time, was the first time any player got to the milestone of 700 wickets.
Overall, Warne had over 1000 wickets in his international career. He helped Australia reach many major achievements, including the 1999 World Cup and the 2005 Ashes series. He dominated the world for over 15 years with his leg spin.
