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The stats don't lie: John Buchanan rescued Shane Warne's career

Roar Guru
19th January, 2018
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Shane Warne. (Hamish Blair/Getty Images)
Roar Guru
19th January, 2018
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Early in Shane Warne’s career he found an ally in Ian Chappell. Chappell had taken a liking to Warne and Warne likewise to the former Australian captain.

Chappell would tell Warne stories about how he would be more suited to 1970s cricket, where a warm-up was having a look at the pitch while smoking a cigarette and taking the horse racing guide in and out of the pocket to prepare the bets for later in the day. Warne, not one who cared too much for diet and fitness, bought into this idea easily.

Chappell likely wanted the captain to have all the responsibility for the team. Warne also bought into this idea too.

Coaches had been around for 13 years in Australian cricket when John Buchanan took over as the Australian coach in October 1999. Soon after he took control, Australia would go on a world record winning streak, winning 16 straight matches. The run would end at the hands of India, losing 2-1 in one of the greatest Test series ever played.

Warne started the series well, taking 4/47 in India’s first innings as part of Australia’s ten-wicket win; however, by the end of the series, he had been dominated by the Indian batsmen and finished with ten wickets at 50.50. It was a poor series from the great leg-spinner and part of a losing series for Australia.

(Hamish Blair/Getty Images)

Buchanan called Warne out. He said he was overweight and lacking in fitness. He argued the leg-spinner needed to be fitter and that on hot, draining days against quality batsman being overweight wasn’t going to cut it. The truth was Warne was exactly what Buchanan was saying. As the old saying goes, sometimes the truth hurts. It hurt Warne.

That Indian tour would be part of a tough few years for Warne. Going back to the start of 1998 when Shane Warne dismissed future ICC CEO Dave Richardson to take wicket number 300 at the SCG, he had the outstanding average of 23.56.

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However, the next few years would be the hardest in Warne’s career. Shoulder surgery in 1998 would be followed by being dropped on the West Indies tour of 1999. His two wickets on that tour at 134.00 would be his toughest series in his career to date. Dismissing Courtney Walsh caught on the boundary was a long way off the flippers that had tormented Daryll Cullinan or some of the big turning leg breaks that had dismissed the likes of Mike Gatting and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

From 300 to 400 Test wickets would be slow moving for Warne. These 100 wickets would come at an average of 34.89, a long way off what he had done for his first 300. Warne had been slow to recover from a shoulder injury and had put on a lot of weight.

This is where Buchanan stepped in. Rather than playing Mr Nice Guy to keep his star leg-spinner onside, instead of saying the things Warne wanted to hear, he told him a few home truths. He was only saying what everyone could see.

(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

Warne, who wasn’t a huge fan of being told what to do or of being wrong, would counter this by arguing that it was true he couldn’t run a half marathon, but he could still bowl 30 overs in a day and had proven this. However, Buchanan, who had seen this to be true, also knew that an 84-kilogram Shane Warne could bowl those 30 overs far more effectively than a 96-kilogram Shane Warne. It was hard to argue with that logic.

Warne’s 12-month ban from taking a diuretic just before the 2003 World Cup would give him time to focus on fitness and extend his career by a few years. A much leaner and physically fit Shane Warne would emerge in his final three years of his career. It was the fitness Buchanan had been calling for three years earlier. It would be the return to the great leg-spinner.

Warne’s final three years would see him take 217 wickets at 24.75. In 2005 alone he would take an astonishing 96 wickets. It was the return of a great leg-spinner as opposed to the overweight struggling leggie who Warne was in the early years of Buchannan’s coaching tenure.

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Warne would always be reluctant to admit it, but John Buchanan gave him the tough love he needed. Buchanan gave him the home truths that would not only help extend his career but would also help him rise again to cricketing greatness after a tough middle part of his career.

Whereas many coaches feel the need to toe the line with certain players to stay onside with them and their egos, Buchanan didn’t. It hurt his relationship with Warne, but the stats don’t lie: his tough love helped Shane Warne become a brilliant bowler once again.

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