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Shane Warne - the myth

_00_deathscar

International Debutant
Was he even all that good? What's up with his ATG spinner/bowler reputation?

Poor performances against India, both home and away.
Pathetic performances vs the two best batsmen of his time (and didn't even have to face two of the other best, by virtue of being on his own team)
Basically just made England, and some South Africans, his bunnies.
 

h_hurricane

International Vice-Captain
Would be butchered in an ATG setup when up against 5-6 great players of spin. But then, ashes heroes are rated on ashes performances. Botham and Lillee being the other obvious examples.
 

_00_deathscar

International Debutant
Would be butchered in an ATG setup when up against 5-6 great players of spin. But then, ashes heroes are rated on ashes performances. Botham and Lillee being the other obvious examples.
After all, Sachin/Lara aren't locks for an ATG XI, but Warne apparently is. Which means Sachin and Lara would be playing for the second XI that the first ATG XI is playing against.

Dread the thought...
 

trundler

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Only O'Reilly and Saqlain can claim to have troubled the best players of spin they faced. The rest are hacks.
 

ankitj

Hall of Fame Member
Murali too to be fair. I think he had 7 fivers and 2 ten fers against India including 2 MoMs. Many times India came on top too but those are good returns against famed Indian players of spin.
 

a massive zebra

International Captain
Would be butchered in an ATG setup when up against 5-6 great players of spin.
You could say this about pretty much any spinner ever. Perhaps there are a couple of exceptions such as Murali and O'Reilly, but even that is debatable. Murali's record in India is similar to Warne's, and O'Reilly only really played against one top class side.

The really big myth about him is that he's supposed to be this amazing tactical thinker, as has been conclusively disproven by his commentary career
And his failure to win the county championship in any of his several seasons as captain of Hampshire, despite leading a star studied county side featuring the likes of Kevin Pietersen, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Sean Ervine, John Crawley, Shaun Udal and Simon Katich, with himself leading the attack.

For someone often rated as the best spinner ever, Shane Warne's first class bowling record is pretty meh. He took 276 wickets @ 25.59 for Hampshire in the county championship and 161 wickets @ 34.72 for Victoria in the Sheffield Shield. To compare these stats with a couple of spinners who are often rated as of a comparable standard, Murali took 236 wickets @ 15.62 in the county championship and Bill O'Reilly took 203 wickets @ 17.10 in the Sheffield Shield.
 
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ankitj

Hall of Fame Member
How do you get county records? Don't know if there's an easy way to get it on ESPNcricinfo.
 

a massive zebra

International Captain
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vcs

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I was watching a TV program about him yesterday.. yeah, yeah his reputation is a bit inflated by England ****ting their pants whenever he was in sight, but damn the guy was great to watch.
 

ankitj

Hall of Fame Member
Thanks. Didn't know of that incredible record of Murali's in county. Whichever way you cut it, Murali usually has gun figures (except tests in Australia). Even in IPL playing at the fag end of his career he had best economy rate of all bowlers in first 2 or 3 seasons before being bested by Ashwin. Haven't kept track since.
 

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