Postsshane-warne
« Previous EntriesVideo of Shane Warne’s TV adverts
By Will last year, at the start of December, No Comments; be the first!
Thanks to Allie for writing in with the link. (see photos, too)
No Comments »Two champions, only one winner
By Jonathan Liew last year, mid-November, 22 Comments »
Someone is really going to have to put a stop to the Warne-Murali debate. It’s doing my head in.
It’s not that I don’t enjoy a spot of abstract, hypothetical cricketing banter. My teens consisted of little else, in fact. It’s just that this debate is – or should be – so thoroughly redundant. Is there seriously anybody out there who would take Murali over Warne? Please, step to the front of the class so we can ridicule you.
Murali is, of course, a great bowler and I don’t want to hate on him too much. I was present at his two greatest performances on English soil – The Oval in 1998 and Trent Bridge in 2006. He wins games. He turns it miles. He’s a genuinely laid-back guy in a world of grunting Pietersens and Nels. He is, as I say, a great bowler. Even his batting’s quite fun to watch.
But against a great bowler, surely the greatest. Warne won games, and he turned it miles. But where Murali tends to prey on uncertain, vulnerable batsmen, which is why he so often manages to roll an entire side over, Warne thrived on taking key wickets at key times, and cajoling his team-mates into doing the same. That’s something you can’t measure with statistics. Murali is a genius, but greater than a genius is a winner, and Warne is both. And he bats. And he catches. And he turned Shaun Udal into a Test bowler. Case closed for me.
Who’s greater? Warne or Murali?
- Muttiah Muralitharan (48%, 42 Votes)
- Shane Warne (41%, 36 Votes)
- Nothing can separate them (11%, 10 Votes)
Total Voters: 88
Loading …Photos of Shane Warne’s new TV advert
By Will last year, mid-November, 2 Comments »
Thanks to Allie, here’s Shane Warne dressed up as his mother in his new TV advert for VB:
…and his father…
2 Comments »
Shane Warne’s new TV advert
By Will last year, mid-November, 3 Comments »
He was an expert at bamboozling England’s batsmen, but now Shane Warne is set to leave viewers flummoxed in a new TV advert.
The spin legend spent hours in make-up to appear as a baby and also as his own mum and dad.
Warne said: “It was a hoot. I absolutely loved doing the ads.”
Do leave a comment if you’ve seen it or, better, have a link to it.
3 Comments »Notes from the pavilion for October 27th
By Will last year, at the end of October, 2 Comments »
- Andrew Flintoff ‘drink disgrace’ on tour - Fletcher’s book is going to be fascinating reading for sure…
- Murali is last hope for Wallaby wannabe - A terrific piece - read it
- Rudolph considers England future - Another South African threatens to split…
- Warne says the county game is a source of England strength -
The secret of Australian success
By Scott last year, at the start of September, 9 Comments »
Robert “Crash” Craddock writes about Shane Warne’s list, and about Warne’s animosity towards Steve Waugh and Adam Gilchrist.
But underneath it all there is a fascinating, essentially untold story about how two superstars of the modern game somehow managed to survive and thrive year after year in the same side despite a fallout which left each man cold.
Waugh will never expand on the details because he could not be bothered starting a bushfire from which no one could win.
Warne’s definition of Gilchrist as “still a batsman-keeper rather than the other way around” is not flattering (even given Gilchrist’s freakish batting skills) and one which Gilchrist would not enjoy.
You can call Gilchrist a madhouse slogger and he will laugh along with you but dismissiveness of his keeping skills hurts him because he sees himself as a keeper first.
…..In a perverse sort of way, Warne’s modest rating of Steve Waugh and Gilchrist gives us a hint of why Australian teams have been so successful over the past decade – they simply put the personal stuff to one side and go out and play for the team.
It sounds easy to do but it has been beyond many fragmented England, West Indian, Indian and Pakistan teams of the same era.
Warne and Waugh might not have been each other’s cup of tea but you would never have known it on the field.
The ability of Australia’s players to put their personal stuff to one side and play for the team is undoubtedly a big part of Australia’s success. I don’t know, but I suspect that New Zealand are also good at doing this, which is why they are able to punch above their weight in international cricket.
9 Comments »Warne’s 50 greatest cricketers
By Will last year, at the end of August, 10 Comments »
Shane Warne has run out of ideas for his Times column and, like a Channel 4 producer bereft of inspiration, is producing a list. But it ought to be far more entertaining than those interminable countdowns (”100 greatest romantic moments” etc), so take a look. In today’s (50-41) are Mike Atherton (43) and Alec Stewart (44)
10 Comments »700 down, 300 to go
By Emma last year, mid-July, 14 Comments »
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It required a spectacular effort, a mere 12 wickets in the match, but yesterday Muttiah Muralitharan became only the second bowler to reach 700 Test wickets. Yet, at his home ground in Kandy, to the man himself this appeared to be insufficient:
“It is a big achievement, but I anyway knew I was going to get 700 wickets. The challenge now is whether I can get 1000 test wickets before I retire.”
First, of course, lies Warne’s record tally of 708 - I’d like to know the odds on that taking more than one match to overcome.
14 Comments »Positive spin
By Emma last year, mid-July, 6 Comments »
Only yesterday, at Sky’s only televised County Championship match of the season, David Lloyd was to be found grumbling at the lack of positivity in modern English first-class cricket. Although the Roses match is normally a lure, I’m afraid, Bumble, you were just at the wrong game.
For most teams in the County Championship, it would be fair to say that the days of the sporting declaration have, for the most part, disappeared. This is especially so when the first 5 teams in the top division are within elbows distance of each other. The bonus system, which rewards first innings performances with bat and ball, boosts the meagre four points handed to teams who draw without an over bowled. As such, when Yorkshire were all out this morning for 320, Lancashire merely began their first innings as if there were still days to play.
Shane Warne has brough many things to the County Championship. Yet high on this list must be his forthright version of captaincy. Hampshire are not a team to draw many games, and today was no exception. In a deal that must be applauded, Warne, and Warwickshire counterpart Darren Maddy, arranged a declaration and forfeiture to set up a run chase, which was so closely contested that it took a career best 192* from Michael Carberry to secure the game in the final over for Hampshire.
Does it seem right the Warwickshire are in a worse position for playing a competitive match than either of the Roses teams are after a draw in which the only tension rested in whether Lancashire could make it to their second bowling point before they ran out of overs? Yorkshire’s former captain, Darren Lehmann, was rather vehement on the subject and but two years ago, Warne himself accused David Fulton, then captain of Kent, of handing Nottinghamshire the Championship by refusing to accept such a deal on the last day of the season.
Certainly, the Australian system is far more rewarding of results over ’score draws’, and the whole point of the extention to four day cricket was to avoid games without victors. However impressive the scorecard of Essex’s game against Nottingham these last four days, neither team showed any hunger for the win over inflated career averages and record breaking. Unfortunately for Chris Read, the two overs he bowled in a final session dedicated to over-rate improvement did not yield him his first wicket in all competitions. That, at least, might have been vaguely entertaining.
6 Comments »Too highly rated?
By Ian last year, mid-July, 8 Comments »
I see Kevin Pietersen has been knocked off the top spot in the ODIs by Ricky Ponting. Very difficult to argue with that – Ponting is surely the stand out batsman in both forms of the game. Looking at the other batting rankings, it is difficult to find fault, although on current form, Shiv Chanderpaul ought to be in the test top three at least. Also, I struggle to understand how Mahela Jayawardene doesn’t break into either top ten, while Hussey retains a top five place in both. He’s very good, granted, but is he top five?
The bowlers are altogether more perplexing. For one, how can Shoaib Akhtar still be at number 10 in tests? He’s played four tests since the start of 2006 and taken only a handful of wickets. Maybe in the current game, not playing is the way to climb the rankings. Likewise, Jason Gillespie (22) is still deemed a better Test bowler than Lasith Malinga (28)!
Agreed, it must be difficult to devise a workable system. Also, stats don’t tell the full story. But things start to look decidedly suspect when you inspect the Best Ever Ratings, which is a list of players at their peak. Ponting at four is just about fair enough, given his recent dominance. However, Peter May above Viv Richards shows a flaw, while Matthew Hayden in the top ten is just crazy. KP (21) is one place higher than Sachin and two places higher than Wally Hammond. Enough said.
For the bowlers, I half expected to see the list packed high with bowlers of yesteryear, given how modern bowlers are meant to have struggled, but it does put Murali, McGrath, Pollock, Waqar and Warne in the top 15. Of course, Warne should be in the top three, if not top of the pile. Wasim Akram limps in at number 57 behind the likes of Ntini, Shoaib and Harmison, which doesn’t seem right.
That said, like most critics, I can’t think of a better way. There must be some bright spark at Cricinfo with a formula….?
8 Comments »Ooh, ahh, Glenn McGrath. Spoofish video
By Will last year, at the start of March, 13 Comments »
Best watched at about 10am, in your office, and ideally when you’re boss / team-leader / line-manager or someone else is giving a speech. Shortly afterwards, and for the remainder of the day, you’ll be unable to say anything other than Ooh, ahh, Glenn McGrath…
If you can’t see it above, click here.
[via CI]
13 Comments »Parkinson: The Shane Warne interview
By Will last year, at the start of January, 1 Comment »
Michael Parkinson, the renowned television interviewer, will talk with Shane Warne this Monday at 7.30pm on Australia’s UK TV. If anyone watches it, do leave a comment afterwards for those of us who won’t be able to see it.
Eleven cricketing sex scandals
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of December, 7 Comments »
There’s a great piece from this month’s South Africa Wisden Cricketer which we’ve put up as a special on Cricinfo: Eleven cricketing sex scandals.
Shane Warne owns the list, of course, but Pietersen, Akram, Mushtaq, and the entire West Indies team all receive worthy mention. Well done them.
It’s just an excuse to put up this photo of Coralie Eichholtz…so go and read.
Australia’s retirements
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of December, 8 Comments »
What does it say of a side who, on the verge of losing three established players to pasture - two of whom have almost single-handedly provided the jugger in the naut for the past 15 years - seem unfazed by the effect it will have? Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne have both announced their retirements and it seems Justin Langer is next.
It just seems Australia all have their rose-tinted goggles on. It’s certainly time to celebrate their careers, but what the hell about the future? Is this blind, cocky, Australian arrogance that these three can be easily replaced? Langer can - Australia have enough batting reserves to form another side entirely - but what about the bowlers? Stuart Clark has been remarkably consistent since he came in, but how will he respond being the attack leader in the absence of McGrath and Warne? The pair fed off each other for 12-15 years: one sucking the confidence and fluency out of the batsmen at one end to allow a more attacking line from the other. Clark has benefited hugely from both of them. And as good as he clearly is, I refuse to believe he is the new McGrath.
Brett Lee is never going to be the Test bowler Steve Waugh expected he would become. He is brilliant in one-dayers but too expensive, too raw in Tests to lead the attack (which makes Clark’s introduction to the side even more important). So, assuming Langer retires, what would your Australia side look like for 2007?
As ever, they have the best part of a year in which to formulate a replacement team; they’re in India for a Test series in November but, before then, one-day cricket reigns supreme.
8 Comments »Buchanan saves the kookiest ideas till last
By Scott 2 years ago, at the end of December, 18 Comments »
Sydney is not only the swansong for Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath; it is also the last Test for John Buchanan as Australian coach. And not a moment too soon, if his latest media intervention is anything to go by.
Speaking to reporters at the MCG this morning, Buchanan said Australia was hoping for more of a challenge from England, which he thought had played without aggression, self-belief or thought of challenging the opposition for large parts of the Ashes series.
“I’m hoping that they really enjoy the New Year, come back with a new resolve and are really ready to take us on head-on in Sydney,” Buchanan said.
“I think we’ve been tested at certain periods of time but England haven’t been able to sustain their skills through the course of a five-day Test match. We’re quite looking forward to that in Sydney.
Short of baring his arse at the England team bus, I can’t think of a more insulting thing that Buchanan could have done. As an Australian, I can tell you that I wouldn’t have been too impressed if Duncan Fletcher had come out before the Oval Test in 2005 daring Australia to fire up.
It is a well established rule in all sports, not just cricket, that when speaking to the media of your opposition, you speak of them respectfully, and give them their due as worthy opponents. It does not matter if Australia are playing England, Zimbabwe, or Andorra at Test cricket.
When it comes to religion, I am an atheist. However, I am a devout believer in the cricketing Gods, and I fear their wrath. Buchanan’s actions could provoke a powerful response.
And I give thanks to all the Great Cricketing Gods that this is Buchanan’s last Test in charge. I’ll miss Warnie and Pigeon. Not sure I’ll miss Ned Flanders though.
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