Warne girl’s tears for ‘shining star’
SHANE WARNE’S grieving children led tributes to their cricket hero father as 1billion worldwide tuned in for his memorial service yesterday.
More than 50,000 fans packed into the Melbourne Cricket Ground to pay tribute to the ‘King of Spin’ as a host of celebs performed in his honour.
Sir Elton John dedicated hit Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me to Warne’s family. Kylie and Dannii Minogue, Ed Sheeran and Coldplay’s Chris Martin also performed.
Warne’s teary-eyed daughter Summer,
20, gave a heartwrenching speech about the Aussie star, 52, who died in Thailand four weeks ago of a heart attack. ‘I’ve had to come to terms with the fact you won’t be able to walk down the aisle. You’re never going to meet the grandchildren you’re going to have some day,’ she said. She added her ‘shining star’ father – as famous for scandals off the pitch as his talents on it – ‘lived 100 lives, never took anything for granted and lived every day to the fullest’.
One fan shouted out: ‘We love you,’ as she poured her heart out.
Her sister Brooke, 24, brought chuckles from the crowd as she tearfully described what she would miss most about her father.
‘I will miss grabbing your big wrists and feeling your hands and saying I have big fat fingers just like you,’ she added. Her brother Jackson, 22, said he was ‘so proud’ Warne was his father, adding: ‘Time with you went way too fast.’
Warne’s dad, Keith, said: ‘A future without Shane is inconceivable. We take comfort in knowing Shane packed more in his life of 52 years than most do in two lifetimes.’