Warne had been planning celebrity cricket extravaganza for MCG

CRICKET great Shane Warne had been in talks to bring an All-Stars cricket match to the MCG next year.

The late Aussie leg spinner wanted to stage an event featuring past and current players, plus some celebrities and musical acts.

In 2015, Warne played in and hosted three All-Stars matches across the US, in New

York, Houston and Los Angeles.

He staged those with businessman Raj Ramakrishnan, founder and CEO of Cricket Superstars, with whom he was liaising about the Melbourne match.

Speaking from India, Mr Ramakrishnan said: “We wanted to make it a grand event and more of a celebrity event that Shane would have loved.

“Hollywood stars, a live band, 40 of the top cricketers and a lot of big names.

“We’d been working on it for a long time and we were going to do one in Dubai in March 2020, but that all got pushed back because of Covid.”

Mr Ramakrishnan, business partner of Warne’s close friend Tony Hachem, said he planned to go through with the match as a tribute to Warne and to raise funds for charity. “I just saw him in Brisbane a month ago, we spent a week playing poker,’’ he said. “I shall do something in memory of Shane and try and support all the charities he did.”

Mr Ramakrishnan will arrive in Australia next week to continue discussions and to attend Warne’s state memorial service at the MCG on March 30.

The 2015 All-Stars series pitted Warne’s Warriors against former India captain Sachin Tendulkar’s Blasters squad, with players coming out of retirement including Ricky Ponting, Wasim Akram, Curtly Ambrose and Brian Lara.

The memorial service is expected to have up to 50,000 tickets available, subject to demand, with most expected to be in the Great Southern Stand, to be renamed the S.K. Warne Stand in his honour.

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin has indicated he wants to be involved, with many people expected to fly in from overseas.

The memorial will start at 7pm to allow families to attend.

A public ballot will allow fans to get free tickets to the memorial, which will be a celebration of the cricketer’s life.

Warne, 52, died of a heart attack in Koh Samui, Thailand, on March 4.