Image | Fox Sports
After Shane Warne made news around the country when he called Steve Waugh the “most selfish cricketer I’ve ever played with” on a reality TV show, the former Aussie captain delivered the perfect response.
“I’m not justifying his comments with an answer,” Waugh simply said in a short statement.
Warne’s insult was made on Channel 10’s I’m a Celebrity, but public opinion appeared to be firmly on Steve Waugh’s side.
One Twitter user pointed out that although Waugh had dropped Warne from the Test team in 1999, at least he’d fronted the spinner and delivered the news to Warne’s face.
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Former spin king Shane Warne has taken aim at buddy-turned-enemy Steve Waugh on a reality TV show, saying the former Aussie captain is the “most selfish cricketer I’ve played with”.
“There’s a lot of reasons I don’t like Steve Waugh,” Warne said on Channel 10’s I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here. “(One of them is) because he’s the most selfish cricketer I’ve played with.”
Warne went on to speak about the time in 1999 when he was dropped from the Test team.
Shane Warne on the set of I’m a Celebrity | Image | Channel 10
“One thing that really annoyed me about him was the one Test I got dropped, in the West Indies, we had to win the last Test match to (retain) the (Frank Worrell) Trophy,” Warne said.
“At that stage, captain (Waugh), vice-captain (Warne), coach (Geoff Marsh) used to pick the team.
“We went to selection. I hadn’t bowled well, we had lost – Brian Lara batted unreal – but I felt like I was being the scapegoat, that because I didn’t bowl well it was my fault.
“We got to the selection table and said ‘What’s everyone’s thoughts?’. Steve Waugh said (to me) ‘You’re not playing’. I went ‘What? Hang on. What do you think the team should be? Blah blah blah’, and Steve Waugh said ‘Nup, I’m the captain of this side… you’re not playing’.
“I was really disappointed with that after 10 years,” Warne said. “I’d just had a shoulder operation. I thought the situation, of having to win a Test match, would’ve brought the best out in me too.”
“I don’t like Steve Waugh for a lot of other reasons, but that was the reason I thought,” said Warne.
Image | AFP
It’s not the first time Warne has taken aim at Waugh in public.
Although Waugh has never publicly hit back at Warne’s taunts, he did speak about dropping Warne in his book, The Meaning of Luck.
“I lost a great friend but gained fortitude from the experience and learnt categorically that knowing what is right and acting on it are two different things,” Waugh wrote.
“One day, I hope Shane comes to terms with the fact it wasn’t about me not trusting his immense skill and innate love for the big occasion, but rather a common-sense decision based on facts and the key ingredients every leader must trust and rely on ‘gut instinct’.”
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