Shane Warne's spectre lingers over Australia
The decline in Australia’s cricketing fortunes in India, the ‘defensive’ nature of their game, and their weakened spin attack, has affected the enthusiasm of their supporters for the sport, writes Alan Lee in the Times
Siddhartha Talya
25-Feb-2013
The decline in Australia’s cricketing fortunes in India, the ‘defensive’ nature of their game, and their weakened spin attack, has affected the enthusiasm of their supporters for the sport, writes Alan Lee in the Times. He attributes the retirement of Shane Warne as a decisive factor for the current situation, and laments the withering away of the “leg spin revolution” he wrought.
Shane Warne is a different matter. It is not only the absence of the man himself that is mourned but the non-appearance of the promised generation of Warne wannabes. Where are all the young wrist spinners with surfer haircuts that seemed certain to queue to replace their hero? The leg-spinning revolution was a romantic notion and should have been a fitting legacy, but it has withered on the vine.
Siddhartha Talya is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo