Ponting seeks clarification from Warne

Ricky Ponting, Australia's captain, is trying to get in touch with Shane Warne to seek an explanation for some of his quotes during a press conference in London on Thursday. Warne discussed the value of Australia's boot camp, but it is his public questioning about the efficacy of John Buchanan, Australia's coach, that had Ponting concerned.

"He [Buchanan] has been our coach during a successful era - but that begs a question does the coach make the team or does the team make the coach?" Warne is quoted as asking in the report. It also goes on to quote Warne saying, rather dismissively, "I'm a big believer that the coach is something you travel in to get to and from the game!"

"You need some sort of team manager more than a coach - like we have at Hampshire with Paul Terry, where the captain runs the team and the manager sorts out everything else," Warne is quoted as saying. "International players know how to play. You don't need a coach getting too technical. You can forget that you just need to bowl the ball."

It is no secret that Warne and Buchanan have had their share of disagreements in the past. Yet, it is unusual for an international cricketer to speak out against his coach in this manner, and it has not gone unnoticed. Ponting, who is currently leading the Australian team in the DLF Cup triangular series in Malaysia, and Buchanan, have been trying to reach Warne for a clarification, AFP reports. Warne is currently in England playing for Hampshire as he is not a part of the Australian one-day team.

"I've tried to make contact with Shane this morning ... both myself and John have left voice messages on his phone to have a chat with him and try and work out if he actually did say some of the things that were mentioned," Ponting told AFP. "One thing I do know about last time I spoke with Shane was that he was all about team solidarity and he was looking forward to the team being a very solid group going forward.

"I'll just have to wait till later today and hopefully be able to have a really good conversation with him over the phone. That's where it's at at the moment," said Ponting. "Shane has had his own views about that sort of stuff for quite a while. It's not ideal that it's out there and that's why it is important that we get to the bottom of it and see if he actually has come out and said those things."

Buchanan, one of the most successful cricket coaches of all time, has outstanding success rare of 75% in Test matches and 74% in ODIs in his seven-year tenure as coach, which comes to an end at the end of the World Cup in West Indies next year.