Skill mixed with maturity makes Warne just as dangerous

So much for the unkind suggestion that Australian leg-spinning legend Shane Warne had lost his powers.

His 31-wicket haul in the Ashes series put paid to that thought as efficiently as it made a myth of England's readiness to compete with the world champions over a five Test series.

Australia's emphatic 4-1 win over England only served to demonstrate that despite all the injuries, the guile, albeit served up less flamboyantly, remains and that is all that matters when maturity is added to skill.

It is a problem New Zealand's batsmen will certainly have to re-acquaint themselves with when embarking on their third tour to Australia since Warne arrived on the scene.

His feat in achieving 400 Test wickets was not unexpected and while he may claim not to be interested in records, the prospect of 500 must be an enticing one, especially if he remains keen on another Ashes series before the next World Cup in 2003.

Just how many of the next 100 wickets belong to New Zealanders promises to make the forthcoming summer even more interesting.

Given the exposure to spin bowling the New Zealanders have had in recent seasons, most notably, Anil Kumble for India, Muttiah Muralitharan for Sri Lanka and Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed for Pakistan, the latter two again over the next six weeks, the methodology in dealing with spin, as opposed to the specific demands involved in getting on top of Warne, should need no explanation.

Like England, New Zealand has suffered under the Australian dreadnought, although their most recent visit to this country was more notable for the home team's inability to recognise the chance was at hand to put the pressure on the tourists.

Some fascinating contests involving a more mature New Zealand team are in prospect. Chris Cairns, Stephen Fleming, Daniel Vettori, Matt Horne, Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan, Adam Parore, Dion Nash and Shayne O'Connor have all spent enough time on Australian turf to know what to expect.

While the prospect of the Australian series is always enticing, so too is the hosting of England.

With that in mind, there will be no sympathy for the England selection predicament when Alec Stewart and Darren Gough announced they would not be available for England's tour of India.

New Zealand has gone without many of its leading players in recent times, due to injury, to feel any satisfaction from England's predicament.

And there is no guarantee that injuries will not affect New Zealand by the time of the England Test series in March.

But while the particular skills of Stewart and Gough may be missing, their absence is merely an opportunity for England's emerging generation of players to make their statement to their selectors.

It does nothing to diminish the potential competitiveness of the series and, in some ways, increases the stakes.

What it does highlight is the increasing pressure on players as cricket attempts to fulfil the requirement to play out obligations now imposed as part of the ICC Test Championship.

Players cannot be available for everything and the squad system now employed in so many other sports is likely to become, increasingly, part of Test cricket. In some ways the principle is already in place with the move towards specialised Test and One-Day International squads.

Cricket's evolution continues apace and while things may change, as in the shape of the England team, so too do they remain the same, in finding a way to deal with the Australian problem.