Australian cricket great Shane Warne๐ธ's state funeral will be held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on March 30.ย Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews Wednesday confirmedย the iconic stadium as the venue to honour the legendaryย Warne with a fitting farewell.
Warne, regarded as probably the greatest spinner of all time, died of natural causes๐ last week on the Thai resortย island of Koh Samui in Thailand. He was 52.
๐His body was transported to Thailand's capital, Bangkok,ย Monday night after the post mortem and was beingย prepared to fly home. His body is expected to reachย Melbourne Thursday morning. Warne was born and raisedย in the city.
๐ฆฉThe public memorial will take place after a private familyย service which is expected to be next week.
๐ฆ"There's nowhere in the world more appropriate to farewellย Warnie than the 'G.
โ"Victorians will be able to pay tribute to Shane and hisย contribution our state, and his sport, at a memorial serviceย at the MCG on the evening of March 30th," Andrewsย tweeted on Wednesday.
๐คกThe MCG, also known simply as the 'G', already has a statue of Warne outside Gate 2. Unveiled in December 2011, it is one of the only five such statues erected at the venue. Another legendary Victorian, Neil Harvey has hisย statue near Jolimont Station.
๐ฏWarne made his Test debut and also played his last in theย traditional format of the game at the Sydney Cricketย Ground, but the MCG was his home ground and it's where he had claimed an Ashes hat trick in 1994. Warne also got hisย 700th Test wicket at the 'G' on Boxing Day in 2006 during his final series.
๐The MCG's Great Southern Stand will also be renamed theย S.K. Warne Stand in his honour as soon as possible.
As many as 100,000 people are expected to attendโ the memorial, which will most likely be held at twilight.
เฑ Warnie's celebrity friends like Coldplay's Chris Martin and singer Ed Sheeran are also likely to attend the memorial,
๐ปwho performed at Michael Gudinski's state funeral almost a year ago to the day.
