Sydney, Mar 7 (IANS): Former Australia captain Michael Clarke on Monday said he is still in complete shock over the demise of legendary leg-spinner and former team-mate, Shane Warne.
He added that he had spoken to Warne, who sounded and acted normal during Australia's T20I series against Sri Lanka. This is the first time Clarke has spoken since Warne's sudden demise in Thailand on Friday.
"Extremely devastated and shocked, that's the one thing for me still this morning. I haven't said much over the weekend because I've been in complete shock. The hardest thing to comprehend is how quickly it's happened. If Warnie had liver cancer and passed from that, I think everyone would've understood, the amount of cigarettes he smoked throughout his time," Clarke said on Big Sports Breakfast show on Sky Sports Radio.
Clarke then revealed his final conversation with Warne when Australia were playing T20Is against Sri Lanka in February this year. "The way he's treated his body at certain times with diet and didn't mind a drink -- he wasn't massive drinker, the drinking around Warnie was more perception versus reality. I spoke to him two days ago before he got on the plane. Spoke to him when he was here (in Sydney) for the T20s against Sri Lanka and nothing had changed. He sounded the same, acted the same."
Clarke went on to say that Warne's demise will take time to sink in, just like when his close friend Phil Hughes died in November 2014. "So to all of a sudden get a phone call at 1 a.m. to find out he'd had heart attack, just in complete shock. As it did with 'Hughesy' (Phil Hughes), it takes me time to comprehend -- I'll still be sitting here now waiting for a text to see what the plan was this week, was he coming to Sydney or would I be going to Melbourne. That will take time to sink in. For me at the moment it's about trying to remember and talk about all the good things."
Clarke remembers Warne as a person who lived his life on the fast lane and sleep not being his strength.
"He lived his life at such a fast pace that he nearly created this invincible feeling around him. He was always on the go. You'd be 'mate, you can't do that' or 'you need to sleep' or 'how do you do that'. Everything was 24/7, like so fast -- he started the car in fifth gear.
"Always tempting fate the whole time, you never thought it was possible, no way can you cut him down. I don't think there's too many things Shane didn't experience. He got every minute out of every day. Sleeping was not his strength."