'Worn out' Warne continues English love affair

Shane Warne, so his critics suggested before the Ashes, was half the bowler he once was.

Statistically speaking, they have been proved right.

On his first visit in 1993, it took the leg-spinner one delivery to take his first wicket.

The 2001 model needed two.

Aesthetically speaking, the criticism also holds. Warne's delivery eight years ago at Old Trafford has gone down in cricketing history, dubbed the "ball of the century" after it pitched well outside the bemused Mike Gatting's leg stump before clipping the top of the off.

His dismissal of Mark Butcher at Edgbaston was a far more prosaic affair, a routine bat-and-pad catch which would certainly not merit a tag of "Ball of the last 50 years".

Half a Warne, however, clearly remains too good by half for the best the English can muster.

The 31-year-old Australian, hammered to all parts in India at the start of the year, took five wickets in the first innings and eight for 100 overall off 29.1 overs as England crashed to an innings and 118 runs defeat.

"I got a few revs on the ball -- I'm pretty happy," he said, while captain Steve Waugh added: "It shows Warne is still a great bowler, even if some people have written him off."

'SAVE THE WHALE'

Warne, of course, is not the man he once was following finger, shoulder and knee surgery in recent years.

The action is more round-armed, there is less bounce to the bowling stride and the joints take longer to warm up.

The wickets, generally, come in twos and three now rather than fives or sixes.

And the team are less reliant on him. Warne, one of Wisden's five players of the century and now with 384 wickets, seems to have accepted that his role has changed, more a foil today to the pace of Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie than the attacking spearhead of old.

Writing off great players, however, is hazardous.

Some tried it before the 1999 World Cup only for Warne -- "Save the whale!" the crowds had chanted -- to end up the tournament's leading wicket-taker, including four in the final.

Some tried it after India earlier this year, when Warne took 10 wickets for 505 as Australia went down to a 2-1 defeat.

But then they had also tried it in 1998/99, when he took 10 at an average of 54, again in India, again in a losing cause.

When coach John Buchanan also criticised Warne for his fitness during the Indian tour, many presumed that the leg-spinner could miss the Ashes trip altogether, with Australia perhaps opting instead for spinners Colin Miller and Stuart MacGill.

The affair, however, hurt Buchanan more than the bowler. Waugh backed Warne and Buchanan, despite retaining his job, lost his role as a selector.

SURPRISE SUCCESS

Despite all this, however, the scale of Warne's success at Edgbaston did come as something of a surprise.

It may have been helped in part by the absence of the likes of Graham Thorpe and Michael Vaughan from an England batting line-up which seemed to have taken giant strides in combating the spin of Saqlain Mushtaq in Pakistan and Muttiah Muralitharan in Sri Lanka at the turn of the year.

England, however -- or English batsmen -- have always agreed with the man.

"I always enjoy playing here. It brings out the best in me," Warne said at the start of the tour.

In 1993 he took 34 wickets at 25.79 apiece. In Australia in 1994/95 there were 27 at 20.33 and 24 more on his return to England in 1997, at 24.04.

Perhaps the would-be obituary writers should have consulted former Australian spinner Terry Jenner, Warne's coach in his formative years and who has helped him subsequently during his career.

Jenner agreed before the Ashes that Warne, indeed, had become worn -- "It's a fair assessment Shane isn't the bowler he was" -- before adding, however: "The great thing is Shane knows if he's not at his best, he just comes back to the level of other players."

English players excluded, presumably.

Mail Cricket Editor