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Journalism of Courage
The swagger and bravado is pure Shane Warne. The greatest leg-spinner of modern times, perhaps of all-time, boasts that months out from the blockbuster Ashes series he knows exactly how he8217;s going to bowl to each of England8217;s batsmen.
True to his larger-than-life persona, Warne loves nothing more than a good 8216;ol sledge and indulging in needling mind games with his opponents. England8217;s players may brush it off as hubris, but they know to their cost that Warne backs up his words with deeds 8211; 40 wickets the last time the two teams met in the unforgettable Ashes epic last year.
Warne was one of the few stand-outs in an out-thought Australian team making his achievements all the more meritorious. So roll on a year and Warne, 37 this month, looms again as England8217;s nemesis and he revels in the protagonist8217;s role. 8220;I8217;ve played enough against most of the guys over a period of time that I know exactly how I8217;m going to bowl to every single one of their players,8221; he said at a recent Australian team camp in Queensland.
8220;I8217;ve always been confident against England, probably because of the way they play. The amount of one-day and 20-20 cricket, it8217;s playing into my hands because they8217;re a lot more aggressive. Where it used to be harder to get wickets because they8217;d pad me away and try and wear me down, now they try and go after me. It8217;s fantastic for me. It means I go for a few more runs, but it means I get a lot more wickets and it helps our cause.8221;
English batsmen are fertile ground for Warne with 172 of his record 685 Test wickets coming in 31 Tests at an average of 22.31. Warne, who loves to play up every up psychological advantage he has in his mesmerising box of spinning tricks, feels his 8220;flipper8221; is coming back. Flicked out the front of the hand instead of rolled out of the wrist, the flipper hurries on the pitch, surprising the batsman, but is difficult to bowl and is hard work on the bowling shoulder. 8220;I8217;m still practising it a lot,8221; he said. 8220;In the last English county game for Hampshire, I claimed two lbws and a bowled with the flipper, so it8217;s coming out OK. If you see I8217;m getting a lot of lbws and bowleds, then it8217;s flipper coming out fine.8221;
Warne believes he8217;s playing his best cricket since overcoming a spate of injuries. 8220;My cricket has improved. The last two or three years have been better than any time in my last 15 or 16 seasons,8221; he said. 8220;I haven8217;t been injured. Between 1998 and 2001, I had two shoulder operations, a shoulder dislocation, a knee operation and two finger operations, so I struggled a bit. The last five years I haven8217;t been injured. Combine that with the way cricket is now played, and as well as I8217;m bowling, it8217;s the best period I8217;ve had so far.8221;
Although Warne takes pride in his Herculean performance, bowling by far the most of any bowler in either team in last year8217;s series 1,517 balls, he says it all proved worthless as Australia relinquished the Ashes for the first time in almost two decades.
8220;I was very proud of the way I conducted myself during that series,8221; Warne said. 8220;I was going through a lot of tough times in my private life, so to be able to perform from an individual point of view was good. At the end of the day, it doesn8217;t mean anything because we didn8217;t win. We all have to take responsibility for the loss. We all could have done more.
8220;As far as the statistics of it, I probably haven8217;t had a better series in pure numbers: the way I batted, the way I bowled, the way I caught. Yes, it was nice but I was still hurting as much as everyone else.8221;
