Warne warns Strauss
Feb 08 2010 - 16:38:05
The Ashes is still 8 months away yet Australia's leading pommie baiter is undermining the England captain already. Shane Warne said "It's disappointing that the captain of England decides to have a rest from a Test series, I can't comprehend that. Any time you represent your country it's special and I cannot understand how you can rest your captain. Maybe a one-day game because you play 40 or 50 a year but you only play eight Test matches a year. It's special."
For the record England played 14 test matches in the last calendar year. Whether that's a lot is a debate for the too much cricket camp.
Still Warne has accused Andrew Strauss of disrespecting Test cricket by resting for the tour of Bangladesh - and he has tipped Michael Carberry to take full advantage.
Warne believes appointing Alastair Cook as skipper for the Test matches in Chittagong and Mirpur next month could pose problems for England in terms of getting used to a new captaincy style from Strauss.
"I hope they are not taking Bangladesh too easy because they can be quite strong," said the leg-spinner. "What if they win the first Test? Does Strauss fly out for the second? I hope it's not the start of a trend. It's a lack of respect for Test cricket."
That is the other side of a decision that Warne feels could backfire on England.
"He's got a style of captaincy and a new skipper can't be Andrew Strauss, he'll do it his way. So suddenly the players think 'how are we going to play under Alastair Cook'?"
After helping Carberry get his career back on track at Hampshire, Warne hopes the 29-year-old can take advantage of Strauss' absence and make it impossible for selectors to leave him out when they return from Bangladesh.
Warne hopes Strauss' loss is Carberry's gain.
"I hope he gets the nod and peels off a couple of hundreds," he said. "Then what are they going to do? Leave Andrew Strauss out? Michael is a wonderful player and I had a lot to do with him down at Hampshire where I was his captain for a few years. I saw a lot of good qualities and he just got better and better."