End of the exile

The pupil and the mentor
If there is one person who knows about comebacks, and Warne, intimately, it's Terry Jenner. He, more than anyone else, shaped Warne's legspin early on. "When Shane and I first shook hands it was warm and firm, sincere and honest. In the early days he relied very heavily on me, so his trust was something that I was very careful not to breach. I was more than a mentor to him," said Jenner, from his hotel room in Leeds where he is coaching youngsters in indoor nets at minus five degrees Celsius. "Bit by bit, over time he has gone down his own road. He's now a married man, three children, 491 Test wickets ... I'm more in the background now," he explains.

And you only expect that. The role of a coach changes as a player grows, and a good one evolves to suit the needs of his pupil. "I'm older than his father and yet we're friends and can talk about anything and everything. In the early days he took what I said literally so I had to be very careful with what I said. As time went on he questioned what I said. He's grown into a man with his own ideas and thoughts now. Some ideas I passed on to him, and he has learned a lot out in the middle in that big thing called life."

Through Warne's "enforced rest", as Jenner likes to put it, the two have been in touch. Did Jenner speak to Warne often through that difficult phase? "Only to confirm that I was there as a support for him and that realistically, it was an opportunity for him to get a good rest and come back strong," said Jenner. "And also that he didn't need to start his pre-season too early. That would be too stressful. If he was bowling well in October and couldn't play till February I was afraid it might be the end of him and he might give it away. To that end, we've spoken as much as we've needed to."

The layoff
Warne's attempts at playing charity matches were quickly thwarted. He was disallowed from training with the Victorian team. When he did television and radio commentary it was amid widespread protests. He was simply not allowed to pick up a cricket ball on any serious occasion. For a man who was always in the thick of things, there can be few harsher punishments. It must have been a period of immense frustration. Here's Jenner's take on it: "I would imagine there would be that gnawing doubt at the back of his mind, asking `should I get out and do it?' and I'm just guessing, I don't think anyone can really know what Shane is feeling at the moment."

Jenner should know. For two years, beginning in 1988, he was in prison, serving out a sentence for embezzlement. He did his time, what he calls "hard time" and emerged with his spirit intact and now coaches legspin around the world. When Jenner was imprisoned, his sister Laraine sent him a clipping. "When men speak ill of thee, live so as nobody can believe them - Plato" He kept that clipping carefully with him. In his book T.J. Over The Top Jenner talks of a time, soon after he was out of prison, when he walked over to the commentary box with Ian Chappell because Neville Oliver wanted him to talk about Warne. Reluctantly, he agreed. "I saw lots of familiar faces, including one guy I thought enough of years earlier to have given him one of my Australian baggy green caps. We made eye contact, only for him to immediately drop his eyes and look away. It was the type of moment I dreaded," wrote Jenner.

Despite the odd taunt and protest, Warne need not fear such ignominy. Yet, it will be the burning glare of the public eye that will make things hardest. "As it gets closer and he's getting ready to come under scrutiny the pressure mounts. Being under scrutiny is a very difficult time to play cricket, or any other sport. Every eye is going to focus on Warne. Warnie will be thinking, `I've got to get wickets'. It's like he has to prove himself all over again. Personally, after 491 Test wickets, I wouldn't think you should have to prove yourself."

The comeback
Australia's selectors have never brought a player straight from an injury layoff to Test cricket. What then, must Warne try to achieve when he takes the field on February 10, in a game that started a day before? Physically, he's in better shape than he's ever been, and no, not just with help from Mum's pills. Would the mental challenge be the greatest one? "Of all the people I have met in cricket, Warne's probably in the top half dozen of the mentally tough. Once he puts on the spikes, walks on the ground and gets over the nervousness he'll really move on down the road," said Jenner. "A lot has been on his plate on and off the field in the last few years. Yet he's managed to come through. The mental side of it will take care of itself. All he needs is the opportunity to get out in the middle."

There won't be much time for heroics, and, if you believe Jenner, there's no need for any. "Everybody's worried that he won't have match practice, but he has never needed that in the past. He has hardly taken any wickets for St Kilda, his club team, and for a lot of years he never took any wickets for Victoria. Getting wickets in lesser games has never been his forte." So, should Warne just be implanted into the Test team, and life go on as if nothing happened? Perhaps in another country. While the Australian public and sections of the media might believe so, it's a different pint of lager with the selectors. They've unceremoniously axed the best, and stubbornly made others earn their baggy greens.

Yet, there is a compelling enough reason why Warne will be back. "Stuart MacGill is Australia's legspinner at the moment. But who is the number two spinner? Brad Hogg is struggling ... it's fit to say then, when Warne becomes available, he will be the no. 2 even before he bowls a ball. In which case the selectors, I'm confident, will take MacGill and Warne to Sri Lanka. Shane's role, like anyone else's in the squad, will be to feel his way into the squad and then play for Australia in a Test match. Whether that is with MacGill or on his own, time only will tell," explains Jenner. "Shane doesn't believe he will get an automatic call up into the Test XI, but if he bowls ok and is fit, the likes of Allan Border, Trevor Hohns and David Boon are not going to leave a player like him back home. And neither would you."

There's a ring of the inevitable to what Jenner says. After all, in the months preceding the ban, Warne was not quite the bowler who bowled magical legbreaks that left batsmen looking like they'd seen something from hell, like Mike Gatting found out. He was tired from a succession of injuries and too much one-day cricket, something from which he subsequently retired. In that sense, the enforced layoff will have done Warne good. His shoulder, fingers and mind will be rejuvenated. Perhaps we'll see those ripping legbreaks once more.

According to Jenner there's one thing that will do more for Warne than the rest and relaxation. "The one thing I am thinking about is the impact David Hookes's death will have on him. Hookesy has been an enormous supporter of Warne, and very strong for him. He even tried to change the dates of cricket matches so that Shane could play. Hookes's death may have a strong positive impact. It might make him more resolved to come back strongly and actually uplift his game."

But, it takes more than resolve and the memories of great deeds to rout batting line-ups in Test cricket. Warne won't need reminding that comebacks often don't follow the fairytale scripts they're intended to. He will know that his most productive years came between 1993 and 1997, when he took 277 wickets at 25.63. Then, in the five years that followed a comeback after surgery, he scalped 202 wickets at 29.98. When he next pulls his Australian jumper on, and steps to the top of the mark, it will be harder than ever to summon up that Midas touch.