‘WE WERE SO IN LOVE'

When Simone Callahan first laid eyes on Shane 30 years ago, she could never have imagined how much her life would change

With his shock of blond hair and a love handle or two, an up-and-coming Shane Warne was completely stoked when a striking blonde-haired model with an easy laugh and a big smile started flirting with him at an event in Melbourne three decades ago.

That beautiful woman who fell for his larrikin charm was, of course, Simone Callahan.

“I really didn’t have a clue what he did,” says Simone, who was working as a promotions girl for Foster’s when they met at a celebrity event just days before he made his Test debut in January 1992 against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

“I just liked him. He was a genuine type of person – cute!”

Taking just one wicket from 45 overs, it was terrible start to his Test career, and gave Simone no hint of just how much their lives would change just 17 months later when he bowled what became known as the “Ball of the Century” in his Ashes debut at Old Trafford. “It sort of changed my whole life really on and off the field,” Shane said last year.

Even Simone remembers the early days of sharing Shane with the world fondly. “There was a lot of attention, but it wasn’t crazy. Everything that was happening it was happening to both of us. It was exciting, it was good fun,” she says.