Adam Gilchrist will ‘never delete’ the last message he received from cricket icon Shane Warne

Adam Gilchrist says he will ‘never delete’ the last message he received from his close friend and former Australia teammate Shane Warne. Warne, who is considered to be one of the greatest cricketers of all time, died of a suspected heart attack at the age of 52.
Warne spent much of his international career playing with ex-wicketkeeper Gilchrist and the pair remained close friends after retiring. Gilchrist spoke to Warne a week before his death and was chatting with the legendary bowler who sent him a congratulatory text for his tribute to the late Rod Marsh.
‘I spoke to Shane about a week ago,’ Gilchrist told ABC News. ‘And I received a really nice text from him.
‘I am assuming this was eight hours before he passed away. He was just sending me a message. He was one of the few guys that consistently called me “Church”.
‘It’s a nickname only those in the inner circle knew about – it’s about being confused by a young English fan and they called me “Eric Gilchurch”.
‘Warnie always called me “Churchy” and it always felt like a term of endearment from a friend.
‘He messaged me saying, “Church, wonderful tribute to Rod Marsh”. I was very honoured to do a voice over [about Marsh].
‘We were not even close to coming to terms with the passing of my childhood hero in Rod Marsh and another legend of the cricket world.
‘Warnie just messaged me and said, “well done on that sir”. So that was the last contact. It’s a text message I will never delete.’
Gilchrist said keeping wickets to Warne’s legs-spin bowling was the highlight of his cricketing career.
“It was the highlight of my cricketing career, simple as that. Forget the runs and everything, to keep wicket to Shane Warne… Ian Healy and I pretty much exclusively had the best seat in the house to watch a maestro at work. It all started at the top of his bowling mark. In fact, it actually started when he took his hat off. And the crowd knew that he was about to come on to bowl. Give the hat to the umpire, get to the top of the mark,” Gilchrist said.
“And then the theatrics. It was almost like a film director… a Spielberg type persona there. Just pulling the strings and setting everything and building it up… to the moment, when he invariably got his prey. It was an amazing angle and I would say that a very close and personal part of my journey was that keeper-bowler relationship with Shane,” he added.