While the world was still reeling from the death of Australia’s ‘Spin King’ cricketer Shane Warne, his good friend, British musician Ed Sheeran, was one of the first to post a public tribute.
While Warnie was friends with everyone, he did seem to share a very special – and slightly random – bond with Ed, whom he knew for eight years prior to his death.
“We met in 2014 when I was doing the Logies,” Ed revealed to The Project a few weeks after Shane sadly passed away.
“He was staying in the hotel room next to me.”
A chance meeting turned into a years-long friendship, beginning with Shane inviting Ed and his friends along to Club 23 in Melbourne, which he owned up until its closure in 2019.
“He took me and my friends there, and that was like the first time I’d hung out with him,” Ed said.
While visiting London on a different trip, Shane took Ed to the cricket.
“He used to do some really amazing things,” Ed shared.
“I’ve got some friends who are huge into cricket, and he just offered one day like, ‘Do you want me to take them to the nets at Lord’s?’,” he recalled, referencing London’s most famous cricket ground.
Ed also fondly remembers Shane taking him to the nets at Melbourne Cricket Ground, where Shane bowled for Ed’s dad.
“He was bowling against my dad, and my dad was doing the hits and everything,” Ed told The Project panel.
“Then I sort of whispered to him, ‘give him one proper Shane Warne ball’, man, they fly don’t they! They really fly.”
Shane passed away on March 4, 2022 from a heart attack while away on holiday with friends in Koh Samui, in Thailand.
Just hours later, Ed posted to his Instagram grid, sharing a photo of Shane with the late Michael Gudinski, an Australian record executive who also shared a close bond with Ed.
“The world keeps taking incredible people away,” Ed wrote.
“I spoke to Shane on the anniversary of Michael’s passing this week saying we were both raising a glass of 707 in his honour, and now this news comes out.”
“Shane was the kindest heart, and always went above and beyond to make people feel welcome and special. Such a gentleman,” he continued.
“He gave so many hours and years of his life to bring joy to others and was such an amazing friend to me.
“I’ll bloody miss you mate. Absolutely gutted.”
Devastatingly, Ed also revealed that he found out about Shane’s death from a member of the paparazzi in London.
Ed was leaving court, where he is currently trying to prove he did not copy the song Oh Why by Sami Chokri, when a paparazzi questioned him about the loss of Shane.
“It’s been a weird month,” Ed shared while appearing on the Hit Network’s Carrie & Tommy radio show.
“I lost my best friend Jamal [Edwards] at the end of February and then, I know I can’t talk about it, but I started this thing that’s been heavily publicised that I’m going in [to court for] every day.
“I came out of court on the first day to a paparazzi saying, “Hey, what do you think of your friend Shane dying?”
“It’s just a very, very weird time. I feel I haven’t quite been able to process or grieve anything … it’s really, really sad,” he said.
“I love Shane, and I have an amazing last memory of me and him at a Coldplay gig together and I’m grateful for all the memories I do have, and I’m sad about all the memories I won’t make anymore,” Ed continued.
A state funeral will be held for Shane on March 30, and both Ed and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin are expected to send video messages to be played to the expected 50,000 fans in attendance.
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