Warne may miss entire Windies series
Shane Warne may miss the entire Test series against the West Indies this summer, Australian cricket coach John Buchanan said on Monday.
While the champion legspinner hopes to recover from a fractured spinning finger in time for the fourth Test of the series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground starting on Boxing Day, Buchanan isn't so confident.
"It is a fairly significant break and it will take time," Buchanan said.
"It is quite possible he won't play any of the Tests."
Warne broke the middle finger of his right hand during a Sheffield Shield match against New South Wales in Melbourne last week and had two metal pins inserted into the finger during surgery on Sunday.
The operation was considered a success but with the finger immobilised for two to three weeks, it is considered too early to predict an accurate return date to the bowling crease.
While Warne's return is up in the air, Buchanan threw his weight behind Stuart MacGill as a replacement, claiming the New South Wales tweaker was ahead of Victoria's versatile Colin Miller at this stage.
Australia's lack of spin bowling depth seemed to be the last thing on captain Steve Waugh's mind Monday as he said he could be in charge of the country's most lethal fast bowling combination against the West Indies.
Waugh praised Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie, who shape as the likely pace trio for the first Test in Brisbane on November 23. They have never played in the same Test team, with Gillespie injured last season when Lee made his impressive international debut. But they were in perfect health Monday when Australia's best cricketers arrived on Queensland's Sunshine Coast for a training camp.
"There is something special about those three and if they get it together all at once, they're going to be pretty devastating," Waugh said.
"I imagine there would not have been three better bowlers together and anyone who knows their cricket knows it could be special."
The experienced McGrath has long been rated one of Australia's best bowlers while Lee and the unlucky Gillespie are young and talented.
Lee rattled up 31 wickets in his first five Tests while Gillespie has taken 50 wickets in his injury-plagued 14-Test career.
But Waugh would not publicly rate the potential strength of McGrath, Lee and Gillespie against previous attacks, including the hallowed Dennis Lillee-Jeff Thomson era.
"They're three special bowlers and I'll leave it at that," he said.
"But they haven't been selected yet and you can't forget guys like Damien Fleming.
"He was probably our best quick in Australia last year so he can't be left out of the equation."
It was hardly the news the West Indies wanted just four days before they arrived in Australia for the five-Test series.
The Windies' away record has been terrible in recent years and they now face the toughest assignment in Test cricket - whether they have to face Shane Warne or not.
Mail Cricket Editor
