Warne in the news on Ashes eve.

I have been out of action for a few days now, but Shane Warne has never been far from the spotlight over the past few weeks as the contdown has almost reached its climax with the first session under 24 hours away. There have been countless articles written on Warney over the past while so I thought I might highlight a few...The Australian reports about bottle-blond Test duo, Shane Warne and Michael Clarke, have leaped on to the front foot before the first Test to defend themselves against accusations they loom as potential weak links in the upcoming Ashes series. Warne is quoted as saying:

"I couldn't give a rat's .... about what people think of me," although he admitted he had brought some of the criticism upon himself due to his actions over the years.

Also in The Australian,Warne has returned fire at accusations he is a decade past his prime and urged critics to hold their tongues until after the Ashes.

Fox Sports reports that Warne is having difficulty moving on from his broken marriage and is likely to quit cricket sooner than he planned.

Cricinfo says that Warne is now ready to let his cricket do the talking.

BBC Sport report that if ever anyone was ever going to have a quiet Ashes series, Shane Warne is not that man and this is not that series.

Lastly Peter Roebuck has a great review entitled Rebel with a Cause; In praise of genius: Shane Warne, Australia's maverick magician, wonder worker, beach bum, and con-man.

Murali edges on to Warne

After taking 2 wickets by stumps on the second day of their test against West Indies, Muttiah Muralitharan from Sri Lanka took his wicket tally from 532 to 534, only 49 now behind Shane Warne. Playing his first test for nearly 12 months Murali has a chance to add to his total, but then so does Warne next week. See my previous post for a comparison between the two.

Warne passed his peak - Hussain

BBC Sport reports former captain Nasser Hussain says England must forget about Shane Warne's reputation when they face the spinner during the Ashes Test series. Hussain, who it appears is grasping at straws in his attempt at mental disinegration, said:

"I reckon Warne was at his best about 10 years ago. Now his bowling doesn't have the same fizz, and he hasn't got the flipper after his shoulder operations. He's still a pretty good bowler because he has more guile and can out-think people. We must be wary that we don't end up playing Shane Warne the myth rather than Shane Warne the leg-spinner."

Warne, Gatting and the mystery of the missing lunch

Graham Gooch still remembers the 'Ball of the Century' as if it were yesterday. Apart from the umpire, he was probably the best placed to see it. Standing at the non-striker's end to Shane Warne's first ball in Ashes cricket, on June 4 1993, he certainly saw more of it than Mike Gatting. Reminicing recently he is quoted in Reuters.com.uk as saying:

"Can I remember Gatt's face? It looked like someone had nicked his lunch. I don't think Gatt could quite believe it, to be honest.I was just thinking: 'I hope I don't get one of those'.
It was just a loosener, really drifted through the air, pitched outside leg and spun back sharply past Gatting's forward prod to clip the top of off stump. There was a second's hush as the Old Trafford crowd tried to comprehend what they had just witnessed, before pandemonium broke out."

Gatting pulled a pained, 'what-the-heck-happened-there?' sort of face and trudged off. He recalls:

"I get reminded about that ball by someone almost every day. At first, I didn't know it had bowled me. When they all went up I thought the appeal was for lbw until I turned around and saw the stumps."

Warne and MacGill show?

Former England coach David Lloyd believes Australia could defy more than 50 years of history and play leg spinners Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill in tandem this Ashes series. Australia is still chewing over what pace attack to deploy in the first Test, at Lord's starting next Thursday, but the series' late start on spin-friendly wickets at Old Trafford (third Test) and The Oval (fifth) has Lloyd convinced MacGill won't be on standby in case Warne's injured. Quoted on FoxSports, he said:

"At a couple of the venues at this time of the year in England I wouldn't be at all surprised if Australia played both leg spinners in MacGill and Warne,"

Warne and MacGill have played nine Tests together - the last in January, when their 13 wickets rolled Pakistan in Sydney - but none together in England.

The X factor Warney

Shane Warne joined the rest of the Australian squad in London on Tuesday before heading to Leicester for the side's tour match against Leicestershire beginning on Friday. Quoted in the Sportal, he had much to say to reporters:

"I think I bring something to the Australian team, not just my bowling, but a little bit of the X-factor as well. I think I bring a lot to the table and I am sure Ricky will be happy to have me back. The team will be happy to have me back, contrary to what some people think."

"I think they have shown they are up for a scrap, they are ready to get in our face and start fighting. England are ranked the No.2 side in the world, and they are ranked the No.2 side because they have players who are as good as anyone in the world. I think they are very well led by Michael Vaughan. I think he gives them a bit of calmness and a touch of class."

Let the games begin

With the one dayers finally over, and Australia restoring their place as the world champs when the time really mattered, all attention is now being focussed on the Ashes. Shane Warne and Justin Langer can't wait to make their impression on the Poms. Roll on next week.

Warne will be ready

THE most famous of Shane Warne's 583 Test cricket victims believes the looming Ashes series will be the best thing to snap the leg spinner from his personal turmoil.

Former England captain Mike Gatting, bowled by Warne's "ball of the century" at Old Trafford in 1993, said Warne's marriage breakdown and his lost television contract would be playing on his mind at Lord's on July 21, but would not linger as a distraction too long. Quoted on FoxSports, Gatting said:

"It's likely to be in the back of his mind, I'm sure. You don't want something like that to really affect a great bowler like that, you want to be able to perform and bowl. But unfortunately these things happen and you've got to learn to cope with that."

Warne TV, over and out

Shane Warne has been axed by the Australian broadcaster Channel Nine - a contract worth $300,000 per year - due to his off-field conduct. According to Cricinfo Warne had been an employee of Nine for more than a decade, but the company's management inserted a clause in his last contract allowing them to terminate it if his behaviour was unsatisfactory. It is believed that boss Kerry Paker himself wanted Warne to go.

Warne Online, "I'm ready for the tough times"

Shane Warne's latest article in Times Online has just come out. He speaks publically for the first time about his marriage breakup and how that is affecting him:

I do take responsibility for Simone, my wife, and my separation. But the reasons behind it will remain private. While we have separated, I am very lucky that Simone and I remain close and good friends. We have shared ten years of marriage and have three amazing children, who we will always be there for.

He also speaks about his thoughts on the upcoming Ashes series:

England have been playing well in the shorter version of the game. They have shown that they are ready to get in our face and have a scrap. Michael Vaughan gives them that touch of class and calmness that has been lacking in previous campaigns. He seems to bring out the best in his players and gets them to play above themselves at times, which is a sign of a good captain.

And on his own ability to focus and perform:

Over the years, one of my strengths as a cricketer has been my mental capacity to focus on the job at hand. As with many people who have to face up to their job each day, no matter what is going on in their private lives, I have been able to focus on my job. This will not be any different.

Sledging Warne?

Terry Jenner, Shane Warne's coach and confidant, has predicted that the English won't hesitate to employ mental-disintegration tactics against him during the Ashes series. Warne himself has been a big sledger in his time, best illustrated by his run-ins with Daryll Cullinan, but Jenner reckons that what goes around will come around over the next two months.
According to a recent article in the Sun Herald, Jenner said,

"They'll sledge him and so they should.They're within their rights to. What would Australia do in the same situation? They would try a bit of what Steve Waugh called mental disintegration. It shouldn't come as any great surprise and Shane will be expecting it. Good players handle it."
"It'll be a tough time for Shane because there will be some mental disintegration, as we like to call it, and the crowd will have a go at him and the media will stay on his back. He knows it's coming. He'll cop it sweet. I'm hopeful we will see vintage Shane Warne moving towards 600 Test wickets. It's another challenge for Shane. When he puts on a baggy green cap, he's almost indestructible."

Warne hits second century

Shane Warne went on to post his second first class century, and second century this season as Hampshire captain, not out over night on 93 he went on to make 101. Will he be able to carry this form with the bat into the Ashes series and bring up his miaden Test century with the bat, he already has the record of scoring the most test runs without a test century, all 2518 of them.

Warne hits back

Shane Warne returned to cricket in the best possible way today, smashing 93 not out from just 73 balls. In his comeback game as Hampshire captain, and subsequently last game for the season, Warne came in with his side deep in trouble at 7 for 189, his batting left his side in a great posoition as bad light ended the day at 8 for 331. He hit 11 fours and 3 huge sixes, one huge straight six to reach his 50 in just 33 balls. Hopefully this is the sort of confidence booster he and the Australians need as their Ashes campaign kicks into high gear next week.

McGrath predicts Warne will be more focused

Glenn McGrath, quoted in Khaleej Times Online, is predicting that his controversial team-mate Shane Warne may be even more motivated for the Ashes series after his latest sex scandal. McGrath said:

“I am not going to talk about his personal life but I can talk about the cricket side of things. Knowing Shane as I do, he has always been a very strong character with the ability to forget anything happening outside of cricket and focus totally on the game,”

In a warning to the English cricketers and the rampaging British media, McGrath said: “Given cricket will be the one constant in his life from here on, the scary thing for our opponents is that Shane may be focused even more on his game and in turn play even better cricket.”

Thoughts and prayers for those in London

As a passionate cricket lover, I feel it pails into insignificance after the events of the past few hours in London. I couldn't get too excited about last nights game, and not because Australia lost on a pitch that produced the most movement I had ever seen. My thoughts and prayers are for those who are directly affected by the terrible bomb blasts, and the ramifications for that over the next while.

Warney was expected to return as captain of Hampshire in their game today, but at this stage I'm not sure if the London game is going ahead.

Comeback Warne

Shane Warnes much anticipated comeback to cricket should happen tomorrow as his county side Hampshire takes on Middlesex in London. Hampshire boss Tim Tremlett confirmed Warne was now back in England, "We are expecting him to play," he said. "All the comments so far are that he will back."

There had been some talk Warne would bypass the game and try and keep a low profile before joining the Australian Test squad on the night of July 11. Warne has taken 34, 24 and 31 wickets on his three Ashes tours and Australian team management is confident he will be in the right frame of mind to again be a dominant factor.

Australian coach John Buchanan speaking at a press conference yesterday said,

"I don't ever have any doubt. Everybody, you included, day in, day out have a lot of things going on in their personal lives but you still front up and do your job - and that's what Shane will do."
"He enjoys his cricket, he plays his cricket well and I think he's enjoying the opportunity to come and play against England."

Warne Vs Muralitharan

After some good comments to my previous post I decided to investigate the matter further, especially looking at the Warne and Murali records. It makes for some interesting reading. The StatsGuru at Cricinfo shows a full comparison. Interesting things are that Murali has played 53 out of his 91 tests on home soil(over 58%), that even someone who is blind would know that they are raked over to produce the sort of extreme spin that Murali is so great at. Compare that to Shane who has played only 57 out of 123 tests on his home soil (46.3%). In fact 342 of Muralis wickets have come on home soil, thats a massive 64.2% of his total wickets, compared to Warneys 260 at home or 44.6% of total wickets at home.

Murali has played Zimbabwe 14 times for 87 wickets, and Bangladesh 2 times for 20 wickets (so 15% of his total tests against these two countries have produced over 20% of his wickets). Out of these minnows of Test cricket Warne has played only Zimbabwe once for 6 wickets, and he is yet to play Bangladesh.One wonders what the stats would be if Warne had played the same percentage of tests agaist those countries as well.

Another interesting one is that for Tests played in India, they both appear to struggle. Warne has played 9 tests for 34 wickets at 43.11, where as Murali has 15 wickets from 5 tests at 48.73.

So do these stats do justice in comparing these two greats?

Shane goes for maiden century

Shane Warne has the chance during this Ashes series to become the first bowler ever to have taken 100 test wickets in a country other than his home one. Currently he is sitting third, with 89 wickets in 17 Tests. The record-holder at the moment is Dennis Lillee, who took 96 wickets in 16 Tests in England, followed by Malcolm Marshall who took 94 wickets in 18 matches there.

Warne Online

Shane Warne's latest article for Times Online has just come out, where he talks about the one dayers and the upcoming test series. He even talks about his rest and coming back soon.

As for my position, I will be in action again for Hampshire on Friday, when we play Middlesex at Southgate. There was always a plan to take a break before the Ashes and as far back as March we decided that the Twenty20 group stage would be the best time. I’ve bowled a lot of overs this season, but I’ll be ready to fire again next week.

Warne return provides test of loyalty for team-mates

The Weekend Australian have run a story on the return of Shane Warne to the Australian Test squad next week and its impact.Will he be fully embaced by all is a question that is asked, and how much does the media color even his closest friends view of him?

When Shane Warne arrives to join the Ashes squad in 10 days amid a maelstrom of hysteria, it is unlikely that all of his team-mates will embrace the world's most successful bowler with unequivocal support.
Warne has been so self-absorbed for so long that some have grown weary of the inevitable hyperbole which accompanies him.

Favorite Warne moment?

I am the first to admit there has been far too much non cricket attention on Shane Warne of late. Let us not forget he is human with failings, he is also a very public figure. At the end of the day though he is also the greatest leg spinner ever. On top of that he is the World record holder for test wickets and has provided much entertainment for the last 12 years or so. So my question today is what is your finest Warne moment? Comment on yours and in a couple of days I'll let you know mine. I have many but I don't want my ones to influence yours. So go for it and let Bowled Warney and the world know and lets talk about cricket.

Warne's Pain in Spain

The Melbourne Herald Sun reports today that strolling down the promenade of one of Europe's most popular resort towns, Shane Warne resumed his duties as father and husband yesterday. With his wife Simone and their three children, Warne joined the thousands who flock to Spain's Mediterranean coast every northern summer.