Life after Warne

The king of Spin-bowling is nearing the end of his illustrious career, Joel Arnott ponders over the options available to the National Selectors. Life after Warne, does it exist?

Shane Warne has taken part in a magnificent international cricketing career which has had both it’s ups and downs.

Despite Warne having many critics of his off-field behaviour there would be very few who would dare to argue with the statement, “Shane Warne is the best leg-spinner of all time”.

Warne will be approaching the tender age of 37 next year and will not be around for much longer. We will miss the wild legbreaks, the flipper, the googly and the wrong-un but one thing is for sure we will sorely miss the best leg-spinner the world has ever seen.

Warne is the world’s leading wicket-taker with 629 wickets, and an economy rate of 2.61. His best bowler figures for a Test match of 12/128. The question arises, will there ever be anyone quite like him?

The egocentric blonde leggie has only ever been rivaled by Sri-Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan, who has at times looked to become the world’s leading wicket-taker.

Looking into the immediate future of Australian spin bowling there will never be anyone in the class of Shane Warne, but there is still some impressive talent to uncover.

Victorian born-and-bred Cameron White recently debuted for Australia in the One-Day Super Series against the World XI. The cool-headed nagging leg-spinner is a possible candidate for the Australian team during life after Warne.

White is a rare commodity in Australia, being a leggie who is tall and robust, and rather relies on changes of pace instead of flight and turn. White bowls a superb line and is a natural leader. White has captained Victoria since 2003-04 and is the youngster skipper in the history of the Bushrangers.

White has also proved to be handy with the bat, boasting a first-class top score of 119.

Another possible candidate is Daniel Cullen. The South Australian off-spinner possesses the ability to give the ball plenty of flight and turn. At just 21 years old he also has an impressive work-ethic.

Cullen made an immediate impact in the 2004-05 season taking four wickets on debut against the Bushrangers, including the scalps of Matthew Elliot and David Hussey.

Cullen stands out as an aggressive and deceptive bowler, willing to flight the ball in all circumstances and has the ability to occasionally throw down the “doosra”. Cullen has already been earmarked as a future Australian.

With plenty of other young spinners waiting in the wings, Australia’s future looks bright. Rest assured, there is life ... after Warne.

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