Ashes are still the ultimate, says Warne
Three days before the first Ashes Test, Shane Warne will be leading his Rajasthan Royals side in a Twenty20 charity match against Middlesex at Lord's.
Surely his fingers will be itching to bowl on what promises to be a slow turner at Cardiff where he would be lethal?
Warne says not, although I suspect that the temptation to rip off his tie and jacket and jump from the commentary box on to the field and say, "Ricky, next over mate", could be huge.
What is undoubtedly true, and quite a turn up for the books, is that one of the greatest spinners in the history of the game now acknowledges that England may have the upper hand in spin during this Ashes series.
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.
He is not merely impressed with Graeme Swann but also Adil Rashid.
Rashid, of course, is already something of an English sensation, being a leg-spinner from Yorkshire, where such back-of-the-hand stuff has historically been distrusted.
Warne's assessment of Rashid is purely on his cricketing abilities. But the fact that he is willing to lavish such praise for a bowler yet to make his Test debut suggests England may have an exceptional talent in the making.
This is all the more interesting given that Warne has not changed his views about Monty Panesar: that Monty has not played 38 Tests but the same Test 38 times - in other words he has failed to develop as a bowler.
Interestingly, for a player who in the last decade-and-a-half has laid waste to English batting, the Englishman he rates as the best English player of his era is still the man he encountered in his first Ashes series, Graham Gooch.
Warne, of course, could not be more of a missionary for Twenty20 cricket. He sees it as providing scope for both batsmen and bowlers to experiment, while fast bowlers can learn to bowl slow to stop being hit off the park.
But while he clearly exults in the role he has played in shaping the Rajasthan Royals team, this has not made him want to go into coaching let alone guide Australia.
And for all his love for this new form of the game, he remains the great traditionalist for whom the pinnacle of cricket is still Test cricket.
What is even more significant is that he does not share the talk among some in Australian cricket, that the Ashes is no longer the exclusive focus of the Australians. Since the age of four, says Warne, an Australian is brought up to believe that you must not let the "Poms" beat you in anything.
This summer Warne will hope to describe Aussie success rather than mastermind it, but he is certain the intensity of the struggle will not be any less.
I'm 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~11~RS~)
Comments
Sign in or register to comment.
If Swan and Rashid can perform well given a chance then we can have a real edge in this series.
I hope Harmison does well in the Lions match as he really deserves a call up for how he's performed for Durham.
Complain about this comment
I think we have to have 2 spinners and 3 quick bowlers, the last time we had a such an attack was under Gatting in Austrlia, with Emburey and Edmunds as the spinners and Botham and Dilley leading the pace attack and that was a very successful tour. Thankfully Rashid can also bat so can hold down a position at 7 or 8, my test line up would be:
Cook
Strauss
Prior
Bopara
Pietersen
Bell
Flintoff
Rashid
Broad
Swann
Sidebottom
Anderson
Complain about this comment
shame there cant be 12 in a team though, eh nick?
Complain about this comment
Nick that's correct that Gatt used two spinners but you seem to have forgotten the 1993 Ashes... England started with two spinners in Tufnell and Such with a pace attack of DeFreitas, Lewis and Caddick which did fine for the first Australian innings of the series (270-odd) before getting completely demoralised after a good start to their reply by "Ball of the Century". The rest is history.....
Complain about this comment
I'm very nervous that we seem to think Anderson is suddenly a great bowler!!? And how many wickets has Broad taken? What's happened to Tremlett? I'd pick Simon Jones on crutches ahead of our current bowlers!
Complain about this comment
Tremlett never did anything really at an International Standard, The same with PLunket and Mahmood. When Anderson and Broad go back to the counties you can tell they are intonational standard bowlers by the number of wickets they get. They are both head and shoulders above the rest of the young quick bowlers.
My big question would be why not pick Foster? His glovework in the T20 was superb, and got us many stumpings that we would not of got had he not been behind the stumps?
Complain about this comment
Bit of a quandary on this one if we play 2 spinners we need a proper gloveman but with Flintoff out of touch with the bat we need a keeper/batsman.
So we pick Prior over his understudy & Foster on the basis he will score more runs and in hope that the aussies don't punish any let-offs behind the stumps (catches / stumpings)too severely.
Cricketing's version of Russian roulette!
Complain about this comment
An awful lot of salt must be taken with Aussie comments on English players this close to an ashes series. This will build to a crescendo once the England v Warwickshire and Lions v Australia games are in progress.
Complain about this comment
I only wish we could be more objective. It's a two horse invatational event. It's isn't like winning a World Cup. Yet we Pom's gave out Medels like sweets the last time we won. Those medels are Empire Medels, not British Medels. That's why the likes of Richard Hadlee, a Kiwi, could get a Knighthood. So if England where worthy of a hat full of CBE's and MBE's for beating thr Aussies once, the likes of Ponting and Border should be Lord's for having lead the dominent Aussies for a generation.
The excess of 2005 has now swung towards stingyness when it comes to the Womens Game. They have the Ashe's, and both the 50 over and 20 over World Cups. Even the Aussies would agree that's truly worthy of a few more gongs than they got, including a Damehood for the Captain. They should be treat more in line with the Mens' Ruby Union and Football world Cup Winners, not worse than a men's team who only won a two horse race.
Complain about this comment
hi all
I think Warny is being very nice. He loves the dramatic and he now works for Sky so he's 'bigging' up the Poms chance. It's a little early for teams but i think if England are not at least level when we go to Edgebaston for the 3rd test then we're in serious trouble.
If we start in Cardiff with the following I shall be very excited and very worried but why not...
Strauss, Cook, Bopara, Kp, Bell, Rashid, Prior, Fred, Broad, Swan, Anderson
Complain about this comment
"What is undoubtedly true, and quite a turn up for the books, is that one of the greatest spinners in the history of the game now acknowledges that England may have the upper hand in spin during this Ashes series."
What an horrifc case of underestimating Shane Warne. With all the beach bum comparisons and off-field exploits it's easy to forget that Warne has a fantastic cricketing brain.
Rashid is not the first England player Warne has highlighted - Pietersen and Mascarenhas are two who spring immediately to mind - and what he says is self-evident to say the least.
I'm just one of a lot of people who respect Shane Warne not only for his on-field heroics, but also for the fact that he quite clearly is a pretty bloody good bloke.
Complain about this comment
I don't think you can pick Rashid against Australia, he's still too young, they'd be on him straight away, and they'd target him, so for 5 days you'd be playing with 4 bowlers again.
You have to have Anderson! There is no better bowler in English cricket atm, he swings it at pace, and has a nasty bouncer, i can't believe you want Tremlett!? He's tall, and not face, hmm yeah let's pick him on the flat wickets so they can hit us to all areas?
My team would be :
1. Cook
2. Strauss (Captain)
3. Bell
4. Pieterson
5. Prior (Wkt)
6. Collingwood
7. Flintoff
8. Swann
9. Broad
10. Sidebottom
11. Anderson
12th man: either Rashid or Bopara
Complain about this comment
1st of all if Fred makes the team why would he bat above Broad or Rashid (if he plays). Fred always takes an age & a day to get in form with the bat.
As for the bowling - what about Onions? Excellent in the Spring tests & has continued this for Durham.
For my money it should be:
1. Cook
2. Strauss (Captain)
3. Pieterson
4. Bopari
5. Bell
6. Prior
7. Broad
8. Flintoff
9. Swann
10. Onions
11. Anderson
Not sure about Bell though. KP needs to bat at 3 as no-one else looks capable Bell has generally batted better lower down & Bopari generally doesn't bat as high as 3 for Essex & lacks the calm authority of a classic no. 3.
Decent tail though
Complain about this comment
taking the long view, we now have a set up in place that should allow the team to play to the best of their abilities, i think strauss and flower will be given time even if we lose at home for the third time since winning the ashes in 05. any rational england fan will desire a committed and tight unit pushing the aussies all the way. its possible that either side could have a bad start and capitulate but i hope neiher does. since we won the ashes i have been despondent about englands level of commitment and planning, and talent, on so many occasions that i just want us to give it everything.
Complain about this comment
As much as I am a fan of Collingwood, I think we need to bring in new blood with Bopara. We did the same 4 years ago with KP - this means a shoot out between Bell and Colly. Depending on the form of Bell and conditions here is my team:
1. Cook
2. Strauss
3. KP
4. Bopara
5. Bell/Collingwood
6. Foster
7. Broad
8. Flintoff
9. Swann
10. Rashid/Onions
11. Anderson
I liked what Foster did with T20 and having a big tail we can afford the runs, but not the dropped wickets. To get 20 wickets with a half fit Flintoff is going to be tough, so lets go for the best keeper. (Though of course that brings in the Read etc etc argument!)
Complain about this comment
Leidens
I love your team, but I'd love the look on Fred's face even more when Flower tells him: "You'll be batting at eight, mate, below Fozzie and Broad"
Complain about this comment
IMHO, Foster has to be picked ahead of Prior. We need to send out a message to our middle order that we trust in them, picking Prior will just make them nervous. We have three bowlers who are all excellent batsmen: Flintoff, Broad and Swann, and we should use this.
The team should be:
Cook
Strauss
Bopara
KP
Bell
Flintoff
Broad
Swann
Foster
Sidebottom
Anderson
I owuld be pretty happy that everyone down to 9 can bat. Then, you can just tell Sidey and Jimmy to throw the bat around like it's a T20.
The other option is to switch Sidey with Rashid. The problem here is that Sidey is a top quality bowler and it would be unfair on him, Anderson or Broad to lose out. Would prefer Broads variation, Andersons placement and Flintoffs agression if we had two spinners, though...
Complain about this comment
Personally I'd take absolutely *anything* Warney says with a pinch of salt, regardless of whether it's on or off the record, and about cricket or anything else!
I think he's right that talent-wise, and certainly spin-wise, England have a slightly deeper pool now - if England suffer an injury there is someone waiting to step in (except maybe for the openers?). My worry is that, despite all the talent, it's going to be very difficult to balance the team - we always seem to be one of *something* short!
Complain about this comment
Interesting team choices so far, and yet there is one person who has not actually done much for quite a while ... KP ! Does he deserve automatic selection? There is something that I call the "Lara effect", which gets to Gayle also - the rest of the team plays less well when there is a dependence upon a super-hero ... and right now KP and FF are being placed in superhero modes ... neither are necessarily fit or firing on all cylinders, so here goes my XII:
Strauss, Cook, Bopara, Shah, Bell, Collingwood, Foster, Broad, Swann, Sidebottom, Anderson, Onions.
The choice is then Collie or Onions as 12th man ... if the wicket is good for batting we need 5 bowlers, if it is good for bowling we need 6 batters!
Complain about this comment
Dear Mr.Mihir Bose,
Thanks for writing on wonderful game of cricket to BBC.
All your writings are note worthy.
We knew very well,that,both England and Australia had not played upto the marke in recent T20 matches.
I have been observing England cricket team from world cup,1987,and observed the following findings.
1.Good cricket players,2.very sportive gestures.Poor fielding by any England team by many first class matches.
Expected players will make us tension,anxity,poor logical approaches at the time of hour.3.Always unlucky on any matches.
I hope that,this Ashes series will clear all sports lovers doubts.
Complain about this comment
View these comments in RSS