Richie Benaud still thinks Warne can make a comeback in this year's Ashes series and KP's desperate attempt to have Sir Shane made the coach of England goes a long way to confirming the fact that the Poms are scared that it might happen as well! But, as I mentioned earlier, all this talk has suddenly died down once David Warner has arrived onto the scene.
Andrew McDonald made his debut for Australia this summer and Ricky Ponting affectionately nicknamed him "Fanta". I wonder if Warner will be the new "Warnie"; if not just to get the opposition onto the back foot - something the Australians are masters of (among other things). Australia's fixation with all things Warnie is starting to get a bit creepy now. Just go see the new musical about him. Next thing you know, he'll be hosting his own reality TV shows: "Search for Australia's next top Warnie". But wait, we've already found him.
His name is David Warner. Critics have already started doing what they do best and labeled him a one-hit-wonder. If that is the case, I wonder if and how long they will persist with him in the hope that one day, one day he will repeat his heroics from his first hit out; and not just turn up and bowl his fast leggies with returns of 2/45 from every match and get out first ball. My Pakistani friend Ahmed suggested I put that last sentence in, by the way.
It's astonishing that a cricketer would get selected for what was the greatest cricketing team in the world without even a first class match under his belt. It's even more astonishing that some people want this man to be selected to don the baggy green left vacant by Matthew Hayden and enter a team which only 18 months ago was described as "harder to get in than out". Maybe Haydos thinks the same, for he retired the day after he saw Warner spin the Proteas out of the MCG.
Wait, I think Brad Hodge is at my door. ..... No, it was just the postie with my tickets to Sydney to join the Bankstown Cricket Club. For his sake and whatever happens next, I hope he does well and goes a long way to fulfilling his early promise, both in Australia and in Delhi. After all, Sehwag and Co wouldn't want to have let go of Shikhar Dhawan for nothing.
Now if only my German mate Hans Warneberger from Nar Nar Goon would stop thinking he suddenly has new found batting superpowers and strut out to bat with such disregard for the bowling that as the next man in, I'd have to get padded up even before he faced a ball.
