Warne delivers wrong un’ before Ashes series

Former Australia leg-spinner tears into Cook, Ponting.

SYDNEY: Declaring Alastair Cook’s captaincy boring and negative, an outspoken Shane Warne feels Australia will regain the Ashes if the England skipper does not show more imagination.

The former bowling great thinks England would be better served by having Michael Carberry open the innings rather than Joe Root.

In an interview with the British press and widely reported in Australia yesterday, Warne had harsh words about Cook’s captaincy as England bid for their fourth straight Ashes series triumph in the series starting this month.

“Cook can be negative, boring, not very imaginative — and still win and be pretty happy,” said Warne.

“But I think he needs to be more imaginative. If Australia play well and he continues to captain the way he does, I think England are going to lose the series.

“He lets the game drift. He waits for the game to come to him. I don’t think he can captain the side like that.

“For me, [Australia’s] Michael Clarke is the best captain in the world at the moment. He just has a lot of imagination. Cook would never have a leg slip, bat-pad and leg gully, like Clarke did for Jonathan Trott in the [English] summer.”

Warne also had a frank assessment of Root, claiming the young Yorkshire man will be ‘crucified’ by Australia’s bowlers if he opens the batting again in the series that starts in Brisbane on November 21.

“I don’t think Root’s an opener because of his technique. Australia found him out in England and in Australian conditions they’ll find him out more.”

“You can’t get stuck on the crease in Australia because of the pace of the wickets. It could be crucifying him if he’s got to face Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle and Mitchell Johnson on some fast, bouncy pitches.”

Warne also tore into former Australia Test captain Ricky Ponting, saying his criticism of Michael Clarke in his recently released autobiography could be a result of ‘jealousy’.

“To bring up the stuff about Pup [Clarke] — maybe there was a bit of jealousy, because Pup was batting so well and Ricky was not making any runs,” said Warne.

“To me, Michael’s very well respected. The best captains keep stuff in the dressing room. No one ever finds out about it. That’s what good leaders are about. So to hear all this in a book is pretty ordinary.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2013.

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