Shane Warne calls out "the most selfish player I ever played with"

2002/3 seasons in West Indies & at home. Waugh decides he needs a break till next summer & goes home early after The Frank Worrall Trophy series. Fair enough, gives young Ponting a chance to be blooded as captain in the 50 over games. The ACB schedule a Test series in mid-winter in far North Qld against Bangladesh & Zimbabwe - something never done before or since. Waugh suddenly decides he's fit to play. Never mind about blooding Ponting as a test captain, the chance to cash in against two minnows who'd never toured Australia before too tempting (?) Besides his test average had slipped below 50. Two not out centuries later & an average of nearly 200 & hey presto its back over 50! He then goes back on holiday. I followed Waugh's career since his third first class match in that epic Sheffield Shield Final (I was at the SCG) where he batted no 8 & rescued NSW with 70 odd & admire him as a batsman & a captain but find myself in complete agreement with Warne. Sorry, he's captain red-ink for mine.

Funny how Waugh was the one to invest his time with Glenn McGrath to work on improving his batting. Yeah, that's the work of a selfish captain...

This recent "best batsman has to bat at three" theory is pure rubbish. The best bat should bat at number three if their technique and style makes them the best number three. Or if the openers are very successful as was the case for much of Pontings career at first drop. Ian Chappell has sprouted this nonsense for a while now, especially during Michael Clarke's tenure as captain. Funny how he batted at three above his brother Greg, who was considered by many to be the best batsman of his generation. Later Greg did move to number three and his test average for both positions are as follows - At four GSC averaged 59.12 and 43.39 at three.

I think Shane Warne is the most selfish player Shane warne has ever played with and I reckon he still plays with himself and is still very selfish

...always complain that they are the victims

Self-serving narcissists like Warne always they are the victims.

"I don’t think what Warne is saying is not completely untrue." Really Josh? Your first line suggests differently.

I'm sure it's not. Generally the truth is somewhere in between. Warne is seeing things from his side, Waugh from his side, they don't necessarily see things the same way, so how they talk about them will have their own slant.

Wasn't a reply to anyone. I was suggesting if Warne is going to call someone the most selfish player he'd come across, he should back that up. You've come up with 2 instances and a run out from the literally hundreds of innings Waugh played. No one generally comes off unscathed in run outs. Of the other 2 instances, neither was when he was captain, and both are well and truly open to interpretation. The first one he'd come in at 3-28 and was last out, having faced close to twice as many deliveries as anyone else. That doesn't scream hanging offence to me. The second one he batted for less than an hour. Sure he could have thrown the bat and they could have declared 3 or 4 overs earlier with the same runs. They got to bowl 7 overs that night anyway and it wasn't the pace bowlers causing issues the next day so you can certainly argue that a few overs more or fewer the night before made little difference. Maybe it would have helped more if Justin Langer hadn't made 74 at a SR of less than 50. As I don't have a particular set for or against Steve Waugh I don't save up in my memory times when he got out going for quick runs and I'm not going to waste my time looking for them. Remember, I'm not making claims for or against him - it's up to those making accusations to come up with convincing evidence to support the accusations.

"A philosophy so compelling that not a single Test player has adopted it since." Rubbish. In fact, as far as Australia goes in recent years it's the tail that's provided some respectability to the scorecard after the middle order has failed.

For what it is worth , my team was a seriously good side . With the likes of Kallis , Cronje , Donald , Rhodes , McMillan, et al they still got hammered by that amazing Aussie team..

Yes indeed they did Derek

Really good call. Two very different blokes, brilliant in their own ways, working within team confines to get outcomes

Waugh was a guy who played a lot of shots as a young bloke and who failed to achieve his targets because of it. He cut down shots, played less of the ones left and made himself a test player of some renown. When he realised he needed a model to score he worked on the slog sweep and implemented it first in ODIs and then in tests when it made sense to do so I.e. when fast runs were required. He was never a Gilly but he was a team man in his role - the tough 5-6 who held the side together and with strength of mind as a captain to direct a brilliant team full of strong personalities

WOE, you ignore that Waugh earned his spot in the side by performance and that he turned a very good side into a ruthless great one. He was selfish and he asked the same of his players. He was fearless and expected the same of colleagues. He scored 200 against the Windies in their pomp getting up Ambrose’s nose as he did so and breaking their stranglehold on world cricket. I think your misremembering of his history makes taking pot shots easy. Take a closer look at what he achieved. Not the most popular bloke and quite possibly selfish as Warne suggests but a guy who changed cricket in Australia

In defense of Shane Warne I would like to give a personal experience I had with him . ...in the early 2000s SA were playing Aus at St George's Park , Port Elizabeth. I had taken leave to watch the match. It was also school holidays and my sister lumped me with her youngest son so I took him with to the game. Being a youngster with little knowledge of the sport he became fidgety so I bought him a souvenir bat and challenged him to get all players signatures both teams. He tackled his task with gusto. Some players being more cooperative than others. On leaving the field lunch time he jumped in front of Warnie who not only was pleased to sign but took time out for a chat with young Darryl , even ruffling his hair. No other player either side did this. He showed unusual kindness. Incidentally Darryl got all the autographs and still has the bat. Shane Warne is a maverick personality . He brought that into his bowling . Part of what makes the package great. Just as aggression can benefit a quick. Steve Waugh struck me as being a bit dour and stubborn. Made him very tough to dismiss.

And don’t forget warne’s charity/ foundation has to shut down due to the fact that minimal $$$ were actually going to the causes it was meant to support. Meanwhile Waugh continues his relentless charity work, without fanfare. Pretty clear who the better man is.

On a “good human rating” who would you rate higher - SWAUGH or SWARNE? Gee. Tough choice.

Plus a super late call from Martyn.

That was an easy three. Even easier with the ordinary throw.