How did Ed Sheeran and Shane Warne meet as singer pays tribute to late cricketer in Melbourne concert

Following Ed Sheeran’s announcement on Wednesday in which he not only revealed an upcoming album and six-date UK tour but also spoke about his ‘turbulent’ year in 2022, Ed continued his Mathematics Tour Down Under.

The ‘Bad Habits’ singer played a sold out Melbourne Cricket Ground on 2 March, and declared the concert was an emotional experience, as he performed at the grounds where his late friend Australian cricket legend Shane Warne often played.

In addition to losing his best friend Jamal Edwards in February 2022, facing copyright battles for his song-writing and finding out his wife Cherry Seaborn had a tumour while pregnant with their second daughter, Ed also lost his friend cricketer Shane Warne in March of last year.

As it comes up on a year anniversary of Shane’s passing as a result of a heart attack, Ed met up with Shane’s three children ahead of his set, where they gifted him a picture of their dad and a bottle of wine; before dedicating his song 'A Team' to the international cricketer and his kids.

Ed said: “Being here tonight [at the MCG] is hard without Shane, as this place was really special to him.”

Shane’s children Brooke, 25, Jackson, 23, and Summer, 21, were in the crowd and captured the dedication on their social media, commenting, ‘beautiful tribute to Dad’.

Ed’s song dedication was not the first tribute he had made for Shane as the 32-year-old singer was one of the first to make a post remembering the cricketer shortly after he passed away while on holiday on 4 March 2022.

He said at the time: “The world keeps taking incredible people away…Shane was the kindest heart, and always went above and beyond to make people feel welcome and special. Such a gentleman. He gave so many hours and years of his life to bring joy to others, and was such an amazing friend to me. I’ll b****y miss you mate. Absolutely gutted.”

Shortly after news broke about the cricketing legend’s death, Ed flew to Melbourne Cricket Ground to lead tributes alongside Sir Elton John at Shane’s memorial service.

Shane Warne had many connections to the musical world having friends in the likes of Chris Martin, Mick Jagger and Russell Crowe, but he had known Ed for nearly a decade before his death.

The ‘Shivers’ hitmaker met Shane by chance in 2014 when Ed was in Australia for the Logie Awards and the pair ended up being in hotel rooms next door to one another.

After their chance meeting, Shane invited Ed and his friends to his Club 23 in Melbourne, which he owned until its closure in 2019.

The pair stayed close and on another occasion when Shane was in London, he ended up taking Ed’s friendship group to the cricket grounds at Lords to watch a match.

Ed recalled: “He used to do some really amazing things, I’ve got some friends who are huge into cricket, and he just offered one day like, ‘Do you want me to take them to the nets at Lord’s?’”

Shane was not only close to Ed’s friends, but he also enjoyed times with Ed’s family including Ed’s Dad, who he bowled against at Melbourne Cricket Grounds one year.