Legend . . . Australian cricketing great Shane Warne in his playing days.Credit:Fairfax
How do you know Santa’s almost here? Warnie’s giving it to Starc again. Starc is Warne’s modern-day Daryll Cullinan.
The sustained attacks over the past few years feel petty and cheap. You sense Warne has gone so far down the path of arguing that Starc — who has taken 255 Test wickets — can’t play that he can’t stop and won’t stop until Starc is dropped.
The Starc camp has refused to engage in Warne’s comments,which is probably wise,although I like the approach from Usman Khawaja after Warne said two years ago he didn’t exhibit enough “energy”.
At the coin toss for the Marsh Cup final,a grinning Khawaja took three strides and energetically tossed it high into the air,creating a roar of laughter.
I’m not sure Warnie would’ve got the joke.
The only time I ever interviewed him one-on-one during his playing career was in 2003 forInside Sport magazine.
It had been months in the planning — and only agreed to after promising free ad space for his new wine range,which had been launched in direct opposition to rival leggie Stuart MacGill’s wine range.
I quoted a line from a Peter Roebuck column in theHerald about Warne being “the greatest con artist in history” because of his ability to dismiss so many batsmen with deliveries that came straight on.
Warne was aghast.
“Well,I don’t know how I’m a con artist,” he spat back.
As much as I tried to explain that Roebuck was speaking to his powers of deception,that he was indeed a genius,Warne still took great offence at the comparison and the question.
When he left,he turned to me and said:“Be good,mate. And if you can’t be good,get a pram.”
The magazine came back from the printers a day before the 2003 World Cup,just as Warne was returning from South Africa after testing positive to a banned diuretic.
He didn’t mellow in retirement,as most players do. In recent years,he’s ingratiated himself with influential media execs,hoping to bury any bad publicity about himself.
In 2015,he took umbrage at a News Corp column written by the late Rebecca Wilson.
Instead of phoning Wilson - I can almost hear her response if he had - Warne defaulted to his preferred mode of communication,sending a barrage of angry text messages to then News Corp boss John Hartigan.
“Mate,you don’t need to have a long neck to be a goose,” Hartigan replied,as reported inThe Australian at the time. “I hope you can remember how much we loved Greg Norman when he was playing golf. You are heading the same way as he is in your public persona.”
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When Ricky Ponting retired,he promised to never become one ofthose former players who savages current ones. Consequently,he’s the best commentator in the business for Seven.
When Warne speaks about cricket for Fox Sports,providing deep insight into a complex game,calling on years of experience,he’s right there alongside him.
They’re the areas Warne should be bowling to.