Rajasthan Royals bowler Shane Warne appeals unsuccessfully for a wicket during an Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket match between Rajasthan Royals and Pune Warriors in Jaipur, India, Sunday, May 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan)
Shane Warne is 41 years and 230 days old, and the first to admit he’s not fit. But the greatest leggie to ever grace the playing fields of world cricket has still got it, just as he did during his stellar career that earned him recognition as one of the five best-performed ‘Cricketers of the 20th Century’.
Warne was named alongside Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Jack Hobbs, and Sir Vivian Richards.
The accolades don’t come any higher than that.
But what about the modern-day Shane Keith Warne?
He hasn’t played a Test since January 2007, retiring after the baggy greens had regained the Ashes with a 5-nil shellacking series success.
And he hasn’t played any first-class cricket since September 2007, as captain of Hampshire in English county cricket.
But Warne is captaining the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL Twenty20 tournament, for the fourth successive season.
After 50 games in IPL history, Warne is the second-highest wicket-taker with 55 at 24.41, one shy of RP Singh’s 56 at 25.23.
Phenomenal stats with the nature of Twenty20 cricket very much in the batsmen’s favour.
And Warne’s travelling smoothly in the current tournament with 11 scalps at 17.54, leading the Royals to five wins in nine matches, and picking up two man-of-the-match awards.
Not bad for an “old bloke”, but it’s his leadership that is the telling factor and a big bonus for his team.
Warne is a born captain, his tactical nous and communication skills have been conclusively proved with Victoria, Hampshire, and the Royals he led to the first IPL championship in 2008, beating the Chennai Super Kings by three wickets, in the final.
And he has the Royals bowling along at the top of the table in the current tournament, looking good for a second title in four.
He’s the best captain Australia has never had, but that’s his own fault with his off-field behaviour attracting blazing headlines hardly conducive to winning the leadership nod from Cricket Australia.
Damn shame that, because without the drama Warne could be captaining Australia right now, the way he’s playing makes the current crop of Australian spinners pale into insignificance.
The national selectors, in a vain hope to find another Warne have had a test drive of offie Nathan Hauritz, but dumped him for the Ashes, and the World Cup. That was inexplicable as Hauritz was at least competitive.
Steve Smith has definite potential as a leggie, but his batting and fielding have taken preference.
The leggies are on the back-burner, Ricky Ponting saw to that. Up bobbed a couple of virtually unknown left-armers – Tasmania’s Xavier Doherty, and Perth’s Michael Beer – but both were found wanting, and expensive, as was another offie in Jason Krejza. Maybe new skipper Michael Clarke will change that notion?
This doesn’t say much for the full-time bowling coaches around the country when an unfit 41 years and 230 days old Shane Warne is still the best spinner in the nation by a binocular distance.
Not bad for a chubby kid who kick-started his Test career with 1-150 against India at the SCG in January 1992, and finished 15 years later with 145 caps, and 708 wickets at 25.41.
Throw in 194 ODI’s, with 293 wickets at 25.73 – and there’s a grand total of 1001 international wickets at 25.51.
And a grand career that’s on-going.
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