PhoenixFire
International Coach
Today, to cure my boredom, I decided to try and enter myself into the Wisden letter page, by writing a peice about Shane Warne and his retirement. It is fairly short, and may I ask the enlightened views of the Cricketweb memebership to give me their views on it, so I can improve it for reading. Thanks.
As I’m sure that every person reading will know, the 5th Ashes Test at the SCG will be the last two great Australian bowlers, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. Tributes have been pouring in from all over the globe, mainly for the latter of the terrible twosome, who many perceive to be the better and more important of the pair. These tributes have ranged from Warne being a sleazy and immoral fat bloke, to being the greatest bowler of all time. The latter of these two claims, is some kind of exaggeration on the media and publics part, and an offence to the many supreme bowlers of the current and past, which in my eyes, exceed Warne in terms of greatness. I do not doubt his supreme talent, and his masterful skill of his chosen art one bit just airing a voice of realism into the debate. On his day, he is irresistible, a match winner, and maybe even a genius; but when he faces up to such greats of the modern game, when playing spin, such as Lara, Tendulkar, Inzamam, Flower and Pietersen, and on a bad day, he can be made to look frustratingly mediocre. I hear you think ‘Doesn’t this happen to every bowler?’ the answer is no. The aforementioned Glenn McGrath, is one of the all time great bowlers, and very rarely have I seen him hit out of the attack, that is one of the many reasons why I rate McGrath a fair bit ahead of Warne the greatness stakes In fact, I have seen him hit around and out, just twice in my life (I’m 14, and have been watching Test Cricket for 6 years), once by Abdul Razzaq (in a ODI, in the dying overs), and by Kevin Pietersen, in this Ashes Series and the last. On the other hand, I can recall numerous times where Warne has been dominated by the aforementioned batsmen of spin (and more), thus being made to look like a mere mortal compared to McGrath. Whether this is his game plan, or anything else, I urge people to take a step back, and reason, and think at the calibre of bowlers there has been in the past.
As I’m sure that every person reading will know, the 5th Ashes Test at the SCG will be the last two great Australian bowlers, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. Tributes have been pouring in from all over the globe, mainly for the latter of the terrible twosome, who many perceive to be the better and more important of the pair. These tributes have ranged from Warne being a sleazy and immoral fat bloke, to being the greatest bowler of all time. The latter of these two claims, is some kind of exaggeration on the media and publics part, and an offence to the many supreme bowlers of the current and past, which in my eyes, exceed Warne in terms of greatness. I do not doubt his supreme talent, and his masterful skill of his chosen art one bit just airing a voice of realism into the debate. On his day, he is irresistible, a match winner, and maybe even a genius; but when he faces up to such greats of the modern game, when playing spin, such as Lara, Tendulkar, Inzamam, Flower and Pietersen, and on a bad day, he can be made to look frustratingly mediocre. I hear you think ‘Doesn’t this happen to every bowler?’ the answer is no. The aforementioned Glenn McGrath, is one of the all time great bowlers, and very rarely have I seen him hit out of the attack, that is one of the many reasons why I rate McGrath a fair bit ahead of Warne the greatness stakes In fact, I have seen him hit around and out, just twice in my life (I’m 14, and have been watching Test Cricket for 6 years), once by Abdul Razzaq (in a ODI, in the dying overs), and by Kevin Pietersen, in this Ashes Series and the last. On the other hand, I can recall numerous times where Warne has been dominated by the aforementioned batsmen of spin (and more), thus being made to look like a mere mortal compared to McGrath. Whether this is his game plan, or anything else, I urge people to take a step back, and reason, and think at the calibre of bowlers there has been in the past.