By V. Krishnaswamy, IANS
Hong Kong : Australian leg-spin legend Shane Warne, who had to skip the children’s training clinic because of the death of close friend John Ilhan in Melbourne, has assured the organisers of the Cathay Pacific/Standard Chartered Hong Kong Sixes that he will play despite the tragedy.
The 42-year-old Ilhan, one of Australia’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, was suspected to have died of a heart attack during a morning jog Wednesday.
A close personal friend and great supporter of Warne’s charity work, Ilhan was also an ambassador for The Shane Warne Foundation.
Warne is expected to attend Ilhan’s funeral and then take a late flight out of Melbourne to try and arrive in Hong Kong late Friday so that he can play this weekend’s Hong Kong Sixes as scheduled.
“Shane was expected at a kids’ cricket training clinic here today (Thursday), but he has delayed travelling to Hong Kong after this personal matter,” a spokesperson for the organisers said.
“We are 100 percent assured that Shane will be able to take full part in the weekend’s games,” he added.
Warne has been named captain of the All-Stars side comprising Brian Lara, Glenn McGrath, Anil Kumble, Craig McMillan, Geraint Jones and Heath Streak.
Ilhan, a Turkish Muslim who came to Australia at the age of three, was a big success in the telephone franchise business called Crazy John’s Mobile Phones.
He started out selling phones and electrical equipment before setting up his own mobile-phone shop in 1991. Soon he became Australia’s biggest Telstra mobile dealer. In 2003 he was named as the richest under-40 person in Australia.