Magic Man!
R Mohan
Richie Benaud's forecast of 600 Test wickets for Shane Warne might
be a tad over optimistic, but then this is what Warne does to you.
His is the larger-than-life figure of the modern game who like
Superman makes you believe that when he swings into action anything
is possible.
On getting his 300th Test wicket in 1986-87, Kapil
Dev made a forecast that he would end up with 500 wickets. He
was terribly far off the mark although it took him considerable
time and effort (on the part of many besides himself) to take
the last few wickets to pass Sir Richard Hadlee's benchmark of
431.
To reduce the description of Warne's bowling to statistics even
at a time when people are obsessed with figures more than the
success they portray is something of a travesty. What a rejuvenated
Warne means in this age is that even the very icon of commercialism
can practice the nearly arcane art of leg spin and be grandly
successful at it while also adding to his bank balance.
Granted he sometimes wears his favourite logo in the form of a
custom made piece of silver jewellery that hangs from his ear.
But then Nike is an obsession with him almost as much as his hero
Michael Jordan is.
Jordan's famous 23 is prominent on his jersey and, perhaps, the
superstar's earnings are on his mind, too -- a paltry $ 78.3 million
was what the NBA star made in 1997. Of course, this sporting
icon may not make as much in an old fashioned game which
still pays yesterday's wages.
The message is clear. Money is not the only thing on the cricketer's
agenda, nor is it the first. But that does not prevent Warne from taking a strong stand
on the issue of wages which not long ago
was the flavour of the month in Australian cricket.
Cricket's hero could afford to say no to a county contract worth
a million pounds. That is a measure of how far the once beach
bum from St Kilda who played for the Melbourne suburb's fourth
XI has come.
The broad shouldered -- and broad beamed if you believe the banners
after he was declared overweight in a physical test -- Victorian,
who is nicknamed 'Bollywood', got where he has by virtue
of the art of leg spin which he has mastered.
The former leg-spinner Benaud's assessment might come true for
one reason. Not only is Warne's legbreak humming out of his hand
like a top and ripping from the turf as if it were possessed but
he is also beginning to bowl his googlies again.
Australia may have lost to South Africa on Monday but twice in
the day Warne turned the googly past Gary Kirsten's bemused bat.
This is a clear sign his shoulder is stronger than it was in recent
times in which Warne's top spinner was not hastening as much off
the pitch nor was he bowling his pet invention the 'Zooter'
which he himself describes as the flipper's poor cousin.
Warne's matchwinning bowling in the Sydney Test more than compensated
for his failure in Melbourne. He recreated for cricket's romantics
the wonders of wrist spin in all its glory. Let us wish him more
wickets and bucks.
R Mohan
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