Shane Warne is not sure how he will feel during the Ashes next year. “I know there will be a stage in the series when Australia need to take 10 wickets on the final day, they’ve got 300 on the board, and England get a partnership going, and I’ll think, ‘Oh, I wish I had the ball in my hand now.” He then pauses before adding, “But then again I might also think, ‘Thank God I’m not playing.’”
At the moment it seems more likely he will resist a return to the Test arena. He won’t rule it out just yet. But it is nearly two years since the game’s greatest-ever bowler walked away from international cricket, and as he says, “My life is good these days.”
Warne, now 39, played his last Test in January 2007. His first-class retirement came this March and was something of a surprise to Hampshire who were expecting him to lead them for a fifth season. After 17 years devoted mainly to cricket, his active involvement in 2008 was limited to a triumphant six weeks’ in charge of Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League. But he says he is busier and earning more money than ever, playing poker across the world, satisfying a growing portfolio of sponsors, directing his charitable foundation, building a new house, and above all, devoting time to his son and two daughters.
Our official meets Warne, wearing a smart suit and tie, in the basement of a members club in the centre of London. This morning he had launched his new book appraising the 100 best cricketers he had played with or against amid the opulent surrounding of the Australian High Commission before moving on to sign over 500 copies of it at a nearby book shop.
Now, as he tucks in to two large bowls
of chips smothered in ketchup, it’s
obvious that Warne’s aura, even in retirement, remains undiminished, and across a restaurant table he proves to be candid and generous company.
How is retirement treating you?
It is wonderful. I feel like I have a lot more freedom. I dictate my life, I pick and choose what I do. Cricket used to be in control,
but now I am. I’m looking at what fingers
I can put in to all these little pies. I am
even looking in to buying a tennis centre
in Melbourne. But mainly it is about
being with my kids.
How much time do you spend with them?
They spend nine days with their mum and then five days with me. I do everything; I get up with them, make breakfast, make school lunches, tidy the house, pick them up from school, take them swimming, diving, dancing, and soccer for Jackson.
I make dinner, help with their homework, read stories and put them to bed. Me splitting up with their mum was a tough thing to go through, so it’s great they now have a routine.
So you do all the household chores as well?
I tried a couple of cleaners, but they didn’t do a very good job, so now I do it all myself, absolutely everything. During the day I clean the house, do the vacuuming and the ironing. I’m pretty good at it too.
How is your fitness holding up without full-time cricket?
My fitness is great. I’m about 88 kilos at the moment. I feel strong and I am probably fitter than when I actually played cricket.
Would you say your life is a lot calmer now?
I’m in a good space at the moment. Life is good. I wouldn’t say it is the happiest I have ever been, that is another thing, but I’m happy. My life is busier than ever. Now I have the time for things I didn’t as a cricketer and the truth is I’m earning more money now than when I was playing.
When you were playing, you used to say you felt like you were living inside a soap opera. Is that still the case?
Well, the soap might still be going, but the spotlight isn’t as intense as it used to be, people don’t seem as judgmental.
As a sportsman, is it difficult to grow up, and so ultimately you catch up once you’ve finished playing?
I don’t know about that, but it is true that for 14 years I lived in a little bubble, and in there all that mattered was my form, my team-mates and the game we were playing. You just focused on those few things, and nothing else. So when you retire you have so much more to enjoy in life.
Do you feel you know yourself better now?
I have always understood myself well, I know who I am. I am a good person, I am comfortable with who I am. I am the same person I was 20 years ago.
You once said “There’s a big kid inside me.” Is he still there?
Yes, I am still just a big kid. That’s why I get along so well with my kids. As much as I am their father and a role model, I don’t feel like I’ve grown up, I’m still a kid at heart. I play with them all the time, and love it, whether it’s Lego, kicking a ball about, playing tennis or riding bikes around the streets. That excites me now.
Have you ever doubted your decision to retire from cricket?
Not for a second. I left the game at the right time and have moved on, so I can enjoy other things in my life.
I do miss the competitiveness of playing, bat versus the ball, you versus the batsman. That is very hard to replace. In many ways that is the role poker plays in my life now because it is also a very competitive world, which gives me that injection of excitement. But, of course, it isn’t the same as playing in front of 70,000 at the MCG, and ripping one past the bat and knocking his pegs over. I don’t think anything will ever replace that feeling.
Do you watch much cricket these days?
I honestly couldn’t even tell you when the next Test starts. If I’m not doing anything I might turn the television on, and think, ‘Oh, look, the cricket is on.’ But I don’t keep a close eye on the game now, other than to look out for my good mate Michael Clarke. There is no way I would set aside a day to watch the cricket on television.
How did you enjoy the first season of the Indian Premier League?
In 20 years of first-class cricket I have never experienced such intensity and passion. The only thing that came close was the Ashes in 2005. Mate, it is so hard to accurately explain what it was like. I mean we had 20,000 people with their faces painted in the colours of the Rajasthan Royals outside the ground on the day of the final. They banged on our bus when we arrived at the ground, ‘Go the Royals’, they were so in to it.
The beauty of the IPL was I was bowling to Ganguly in Rajasthan and they were all supporting me, and went berserk when I knocked him over. Nothing compares to it.
Did it show what you could have done as Australian captain?
I don’t sit around wishing I had been captain of Australia. I had my opportunities as vice-captain, I captained the one-day side in quite a few games, and that’s that.
Do you like the title as the best captain Australia never had?
Yeah, I suppose that is flattering. It is better than people thinking I was shit. Captaining Hampshire seemed to go pretty well: we won more Championship games in the four years I was in charge than any other county. We won a trophy and got to a final. I was captain in the IPL, and we won it and people liked the way we played, so I reckon my captaincy style is pretty good.
What was your approach as the Rajasthan Royals’ captain and coach?
Express yourself and be laidback. That’s it. It was only me and a couple of assistants. We didn’t have any computers. I made it as simple as possible. It was old school, mate. We sat around the pool with a beer or a Coke and just talked about cricket. There were no big warm-ups, we swam in the pool, jumped on the bus, tossed a coin and said, ‘We’re batting.’ We didn’t arrive at the ground a couple of hours before the game, or any of that rubbish.
Is there any chance of a Test comeback?
I could not say 100 pr cent I will never play for Australia again. I never say never in my life. I could not say I won’t come back. Who knows what will happen down the track? At the moment, in my head, I have no plans whatsoever of playing cricket for Australia again. If something happens in the future, I will weigh it up at the time.
What if you got a call from Ricky Ponting before the Ashes asking if you could help out for the series?
I would take the call and listen to what he had to say. I could say, ‘No thanks, I’m flattered, but I’m not interested,’ or do you know what? I could actually say, ‘Yeah, let’s give it a go!’
So you are prepared to come back?
Look, the problem is there are a lot of other things a decision like that affects. First and foremost, there are my kids, I would miss my five days with them. I would have to speak to their Mum and tell her, ‘I am going to do this for the next two months.’ I have my sponsors, poker commitments, charity stuff, my foundation… it is a pretty big decision. I am happy with what I’m doing and don’t want to return.
But that scriptwriter of yours you often referred to might be preparing one more final dramatic chapter?
That scriptwriter did a good job for me; he looked after me for most of my career. There might be another chapter, I just don’t know.
Have Australia managed to properly replace you yet?
I’m not sure they have replaced me, but that is a little unfair on the spinners who are coming through. It is like, ‘Is anyone going to replace Glenn McGrath?’ or, ‘Is anyone going to replace Wasim Akram?’ Sometimes it is hard to replace guys who have succeeded at international level. Hopefully they will come up with an unbelievable spinner that starts to take heaps of wickets, so people will stop asking me if I am going to come back.
In your opinion, who is Australia’s best spinner at the moment?
Bryce McGain, and it is just a shame he had to go home from India. He is a wonderful bowler. He might be 36, but he’s not played that many first-class games, just club cricket for the last 10 years, so he’s not suffered the wear and tear. Bryce could play Test cricket for the next few years. He has improved unbelievably.
Could Jason Krejza be the answer to the side’s spinning problem?
I honestly couldn’t tell you. I have never seen him bowl.
How good is Australia’s stable of spinners?
There are a few guys at the moment, including Beau Casson, Cameron White, Dan Cullen and Cullen Bailey. Then there is Xavier Doherty, Aaron Heal, and a young kid from New South Wales called Steve Smith. They could all be okay, but it just depends on how they progress over the next couple of years.
Ian Chappell has said Australia have not been this vulnerable in the last 12 years: Would you agree?
I would never go against Ian Chappell, he’s been the biggest influence on my career, and he’s generally spot-on in everything he says. What I would say is Australia doesn’t lack the ability: the talent is as good as it has ever been, it is just that they don’t have enough experience yet.
How would you assess this Australian side?
Well, there is obviously no proven spinner, who can help take four or five wickets on the last day to win a game. That is an area of concern, but for the rest of the bowlers, Stuart Clark is doing exceptionally well, Brett Lee has just had the best year of his life, and there is Mitchell Johnson, who has yet to find his feet, but he is left arm and bowls 150k. So there is variety in the attack. The batting could be as strong as ever: Hayden with Katich or Jaques as openers, then Ponting, Hussey, Clarke, Watson, Haddin at seven, and if they play Cameron White, he’s at eight, wow!
Who will be Australia’s emerging stars over the next year?
There’s [Victoria seamer] Peter Siddle, who could be really good. But more than anyone it will be Shane Watson: international cricket hasn’t seen the best of him yet. He’s played three or four Tests so far, but once you see him really get in to his stride he can be as good as Andrew Flintoff. For a start, he’s a better batsman than Flintoff: Watson could bat at three or four, and while he’s not as good a bowler as Freddie, as a package he could really challenge him as the world’s best all-rounder.
Could England regain the Ashes in 2009?
If England keep losing Test series leading up to the Ashes then I think Australia will wipe the floor with them. But if England start to find some momentum, start winning Tests and gelling together then it could be a hell of a contest. England have won one Test under Kevin Pietersen, so they have a lot to do in the next year.
Have the English press gone overboard about the start of the Kevin Pietersen’s era?
I did a press conference this morning in front of some English journalists, and when I said all he had done so far was win one dead rubber, they thought I was sledging them. I couldn’t believe they were getting upset! I thought I must be missing something. I was just stating the facts. With Kevin as captain England has won one dead rubber and played well in the one-day series against South Africa. That’s all. I would be encouraged, but I wouldn’t be getting my hopes up too high.
Will Kevin Pietersen prove to be a successful England captain?
Yeah, he will be a good captain. He will get people to follow him as a good leader, he loves the game, and he will do a good job.
But the captaincy has famously affected other great English players like Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff…
But Pietersen isn’t English, is he? [Laughs] He is hungry, mate, he just wants to be the best he can possibly be, and he will do that.
What have you made of Monty Panesar’s recent progress?
I’ve said before he might have played 33 Tests, but that’s not right, he has actually played one Test 33 times. He bowls the same way all the time, he just waits for the batsman to get himself out. I like Monty: he has a lot to work with, I love his enthusiasm, the way he really spins it.
Monty has a real good chance. I just think he hasn’t really grasped spin bowling yet. I’m not sure he has spoken to enough of the right people, or that the people who
are speaking to him understand spin bowling enough either.
Who are England’s most important players?
As well as Pietersen, it is Flintoff and Harmison, and Michael Vaughan too, who England need to be part of their Ashes side. Without those guys, England won’t be strong enough.
Where else do England need to improve before the Ashes?
Their bowling needs to be more consistent. Other blokes need to step forward, because they can’t just throw the ball to Freddie or Harmy all the time. England’s top order needs to make more runs, so to give the middle order, the stroke players like Pietersen the chance to come in and knock it around. Flintoff also needs to go in when the ball is a bit older, and be able to slog it around.
How about the wicketkeepers?
Matt Prior is no good, I don’t rate him at all. He couldn’t catch a cold, mate. He is a dangerous batsman in one-day cricket, so he can sort of get away with it. Tim Ambrose is a very good keeper, but they probably need him to make a few more runs. If I was bowling I would feel confident with Ambrose, but if I was bowling with Prior behind the stumps, I would think, ‘Oh no.’ I would be urging the batsman: ‘Hit it to a fielder, please don’t run past and miss one’. England are obviously prepared for him to drop a few catches.
What are England’s other weaknesses?
They have too many people who are inconsistent, and don’t perform enough. I still have a question mark over Ian Bell, and there is also still a question mark over Paul Collingwood as a Test batsman.
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