The Sunday Times Magazine • 13documentary, Shane, released weeks before his death.
“I like loud music, I smoked, I drank and I bowled a bit of
leg-spin,” he said. “That’s me. I don’t have any regrets.”
The documentary was co-produced by his longtime
friend and business associate Andrew Neophitou —
Neo. And it was Neo who, tragically, would be the one
to find Warne unresponsive in his bedroom in Thailand.O
n the northeastern tip of Koh Samui, a giant
18-armed effigy rises out of the Plai Laem
temple complex. This dextrous deity
looks as if she could be the goddess of spin
bowling, but she is Guanyin, bodhisattva
of mercy, healing and compassion, called
upon by Buddhists in times of despair. It was
from this temple that a volunteer paramedic
team was dispatched on Friday, March 4, to
attempt to save Warne’s life.
Warne had arrived on the island the previous night
for a holiday with four high-rolling friends. Before
bed, he had posted a photograph on Instagram of the
underlit infinity pool and the craggy outline of the coast
with the message: “Goodnight from Samujana Villas in
Koh Samui”. That Friday, he awoke to a view he loved
— a sweeping outlook across the Gulf of Thailand.
The world had opened up again after the pandemic,
and this was the start of a planned three-month global
jaunt. Before the sun set, Warne was dead.
Kittichai Huadmuang, 30, one of the first responding
paramedics, is sitting at a table outside the squat
modern offices of the Wat Plai Laem rescue team, set
back in the temple grounds next to a covered car park
that houses the emergency van in which he’d raced to
the scene. Because Thailand has only a limited public
health network, there are a lot of paramedic teams like
this one, funded by donations, often based at temples.
Kittichai was on duty with a colleague that afternoon
when they received a call from the staff of Samujana,
two miles away on the other side of the headland.
“They said a guest had fainted and needed help,”
Kittichai says. The two paramedics checked their
equipment and jumped into their van. The roads would
have been clogged during peak season in pre-pandemic
days, but they made the journey in less than ten minutes
and rushed into the villa. The chaos and distress in the
room could not have been a more jarring contrast with
the serenity of the picture-postcard view behind them.
“The friends were pleading, ‘Come on, wake up!’ ”
Kittichai says. “One of them was pumping his chest,blood was being forced from his mouth and spilling on
the carpet. They were frantic, they were in shock, they
were panicking.”
The paramedics hooked up their defibrillator and
began CPR. But there was no pulse, no heartbeat. “It was
too late. There were no signs of life. Nothing. It was clear
he was already dead by the time we’d arrived.” He says
there did not seem to be any sign of a struggle, break-in
or partying. An ambulance arrived to take Warne to the
Thai International hospital, where he was pronounced
dead on arrival after further failed resuscitation efforts.
Kittichai had no idea at the time that he was trying
to save the life of a celebrity. Away from some foreigner
circles, cricket does not register on the sporting radar
screens in Thailand.
Just a few hours earlier, Warne’s day had started
in laid-back fashion. He was staying at Villa One at
Samujana with three friends — Neo; Gareth Edwards
(Gaz), who is chief marketing officer at Samujana; and
Fred Witherow, who made his career in financial equity
before setting up a lending company, MyAssetPay,
last year. The fourth friend, Tom Hall, a Hong Kong-
based British online gaming entrepreneur and chief
executive of the Sporting News website, was staying
at another villa with his family nearby.
In a touching article on Sporting News paying tribute
to his friend and recalling their last moments together,
Hall said the “banter” on the day of Warne’s death
began with catch-ups about poker, cricket, golf and
prospects of a trip to Tulum in Mexico. Warne’s first
priority, however, was watching the opening day of
Australia’s Test in Pakistan. “He was laughing and was
himself,” Hall wrote. During the match, Warne vanished
for a moment and returned with armfuls of clothing —
memorabilia from his playing days — which he gave to
Hall as gifts for his staff. “Shane had been working with
me at the Sporting News for the past year or so,” he said,
“and he presented me with his jumper from the 2005
Ashes Test, his 2008 IPL [Indian Premier League] shirt
and a one-day international shirt and cap to place in the
TSN offices in Australia and the UK. Amazing gifts ...”
Such acts of generosity were common with Warne.
PHILIP SHERWELL FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE, @HONGKONGTOM888 / INSTAGRAM, @SHANEWARNE23 / INSTAGRAM Next, their attention turned to food. Thailand may
THERE WAS
NO PULSE, NO
HEARTBEAT.
“IT WAS TOO
LATE. HE WAS
DEAD BY THE
TIME WE’D
ARRIVED”
Clockwise from top left: the luxury Samujana Villas on
Koh Samui; Warne presenting memorabilia to his friend
Tom Hall, left; Kittichai Huadmuang, one of the first
paramedics to arrive; the Vegemite that provided Warne’s
final meal; Warne’s “operation shred” post on Instagram➤