{"id":58329,"date":"2025-08-11T03:48:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T03:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/58329\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T03:48:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T03:48:16","slug":"ricky-ponting-reveals-why-he-was-worried-about-aussie-cricket-icon-shane-warne-before-the-2005-ashes-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/58329\/","title":{"rendered":"Ricky Ponting reveals why he was ‘worried’ about Aussie cricket icon Shane Warne before the 2005 Ashes series"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ricky Ponting has revealed he was left feeling \u2018worried\u2019 about whether Australian cricket legend Shane Warne<\/a> would be \u2018able to play\u2019 on the eve of the 2005 Ashes series.<\/p>\n

It came after Warne had undergone a highly publicised divorce from his ex-wife Simone Callahan in the build-up to the Test series.<\/p>\n

Warne, who tragically passed away in 2022 at the age of 52, had previously described that period of his life as \u2018really tough\u2019.<\/p>\n

‘Getting divorced was a difficult time in my life and for my children. And it was my fault. So I have to live with that for the rest of my life, it wasn’t easy,’ he said while commentating for Foxtel on the Ashes<\/a>\u00a0series in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u2018I had to then pick myself off the canvas and try to start an Ashes series, which wasn\u2019t easy,\u2019 he added in an interview with talkSPORT.<\/p>\n

Warne and Callahan had been married for 10 years before they divorced.<\/p>\n

\"Ricky <\/p>\n

Ricky Ponting has revealed he was ‘worried’ about Australian spinning great Shane Warne ahead of the 2005 Ashes Series\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"It <\/p>\n

It came after Warne (left) had undergone a highly-publicised divorce from his ex-wife Simone Callahan<\/p>\n

\"Ponting <\/p>\n

\u00a0Ponting (left) revealed that he had met Warne (right) for breakfast, where he asked whether the spinner was going to be ready and able to play in the series<\/p>\n

\u2018I wasn\u2019t going to pull out of an Ashes series. The kids wanted me to play, so I did. But that was a really tough time.\u2019<\/p>\n

His captain, Ponting, had noted that his star bowler wasn\u2019t himself and so the Aussie Test skipper reached out to check in on his team-mate.<\/p>\n

\u2018I was worried,\u2019 he told The Courier Mail<\/a>. \u2018Photos had come out in the papers about his private life and I know for a fact his marriage was pretty much over.<\/p>\n

\u2018I rang him and said: \u201cI need to have breakfast with you and chat about some stuff\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018I went down and started some spiel: \u201cHow you going to be? Are you all right to play?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018And he cut me off and said: \u201cWhat are you talking about? Don\u2019t worry, I\u2019ll be fine. I\u2019ll sort that stuff out. When it\u2019s time to go and play, I\u2019ll go play\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018And he did. He took 40 wickets,\u2019 Ponting added.<\/p>\n

\u2018He was born to be on the big stage. That summed up what he was like as a competitor.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Warne <\/p>\n

\u00a0Warne (right) told Ponting (left) that he was ready to play, before going on to take 40 wickets in the series\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Ponting <\/p>\n

Ponting later described Warne as a true competitor adding that he was ‘born to be on the big stage’\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Warne <\/p>\n

Warne insisted he was ready to go, despite later claiming that the period following his divorce ‘was one of the toughest periods of his life’\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Australia would go on to lose the Ashes 2-1, Warne was named joint player of the series alongside Andrew Flintoff.<\/p>\n

He took six wickets during Australia\u2019s victory at Lord\u2019s in the first Test, notably dismissing Ian Bell with a slider. In the second Test at Edgbaston, Warne would claim another 10 wickets, famously also sending Alastair Cook walking with a delivery that spun half-way across the pitch.<\/p>\n

His 40-wicket haul puts him fifth for the most wickets taken in a single Ashes series by one player.<\/p>\n

And such was his brilliance, former England captain Michael Vaughan hailed the late Aussie cricket star.<\/p>\n

\u2018We love him,\u2019 Vaughan said.<\/p>\n

\u2018He murdered us for pretty much every Ashes series – and even in 2005, he got 40 wickets.<\/p>\n

\u2018Without Warnie in 2005, we would have won 4-1 convincingly.\u2019<\/p>\n

Despite suffering defeat in the Test series, Warne dubbed it the greatest Ashes of all time.<\/p>\n

\"Warne <\/p>\n

Warne took six wickets at Lord’s before going on to take another 10 wickets during the second Test at Edgbaston\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Warne <\/p>\n

Warne (right) was named the player of the series alongside Andrew Flintoff (left) for his brilliance with the ball in hand\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018It was the only Ashes I played in that we lost and it was probably one of the greatest series of all time,\u2019 the Australian cricket icon told talkSPORT.<\/p>\n

\u2018I did pretty well with the bat and ball. I was pretty proud of my own achievement given the personal hardship and tough personal situation I was in.\u2019<\/p>\n

Ponting also reflected on the 2005 series, claiming that it was the \u2018most captivating series\u2019 that he played in.<\/p>\n

\u2018The thing that struck me most was that through those couple of months there was no talk of football, it was cricket everywhere,\u2019 Ponting told The Courier Mail.<\/p>\n

\u2018It revitalised Ashes cricket and had a great impact on the Test match game around the world.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ricky Ponting has revealed he was left feeling \u2018worried\u2019 about whether Australian cricket legend Shane Warne would be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[22816,1721,97,29175,217,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-58329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-ashes","tag-cricket","tag-dailymail","tag-shane-warne","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}