By IANS,
Melbourne : The strong calls of comeback notwithstanding, Shane Warne has sought to downplay the growing fears of a spin void in the Australian team after his retirement, saying the young generation has enough guile in their armoury to fill his shoes.
Vehemently denying any possibility of making a Test return, Warne said it is time that Australia blooded new spinners.
“There are a lot of other good spinners… Bryce McGain here in Victoria, Cullen Bailey and Dan Cullen in Adelaide, Xavier Doherty in Tasmania. We can go around all the states and they have all got some good spinners,” Warne was quoted as saying in the Herald Sun.
Warne showed his interest in young spinner Beau Casson and hoped that he grabs a ’10-for’ when he makes his Test debut against the West Indies in the third and final Test of the Caribbean series.
“Whenever someone retires, an opportunity creates itself. Now it’s time for one of the spinners around Australia to put their hand up and grab the opportunity. Maybe they can get two or three of these young spinners and get them around the group and get them hungry and see what it is all about, and then hopefully one of those guys will put their hand up,” Warne said.
Warne also said there was no threat to Australia’s cricketing future and he has no regrets about retiring.
“They are playing exceptional cricket, they are playing well and beating everybody so it’s good time for a few youngsters to be around,” he said.
“At this stage, unless something drastic happens, I’m very happily retired,” he said.
“I’ll speak to Punter (Ricky Ponting), I suppose, but I’m happily retired. I don’t have any regrets. I’d be in a straight jacket in a padded cell if I had regrets. I’m always trying to look to the future and things are absolutely fantastic at the moment.”
After Warne led the Rajasthan Royals to the Indian Premier League title and amazed everyone with his bowling performance, speculation that the 38-year-old could return for the 2009 Ashes series has flared. Stuart MacGill’s sudden retirement after the second Test against West Indies has only fanned the rumours.
But the champion leg spinner insisted that any suggestions that he was hoping to make an Ashes comeback were simply not true.
“I said if Stuart McGill broke his leg and there was not one other spinner in Australia and Ricky rang me and said, ‘mate, we need you for the Ashes’ then I’d consider it,” he said.
“Now if that’s coming out of retirement, I’ve got to read a new dictionary, I think.”
Warne said he was committed to his charity and family, and it was time that the Australian cricketing fraternity treat him as past.
“From a personal point of view everything’s going great, business is going great, (and I’m) happily retired,” he said.