Warne stands up for team-mates

Amid a torrent of claims from former players that the Australian team are on the decline, Shane Warne has spoken out against such suggestions and firmly believes that his team-mates are on track for a successful home summer, in which they will attempt to regain the Ashes.

Geoff Lawson and Ian Chappell started the trend with suggestions that Glenn McGrath’s body may not be able to keep up with the workload required of him in the upcoming season, with those claims being later backed up by Allan Border, Jeff Thomson and Merv Hughes in the last 24 hours.

Although looking well short of his best in his first two outings in the ICC Champions Trophy, McGrath insists he is happy with his progress and believes he will be at his peak for the Ashes, a belief Shane Warne shares. Pointing out that McGrath has missed a lot of cricket lately with his time away from the game to be with his wife during her successful battle with cancer, Warne says that McGrath simply needs some more bowling to get back to full match fitness, and that his champion qualities will show in the coming months.

Another suggestion to be made by a former Australian cricketer recently came from Dennis Lillee, who fears that the Australian batting lineup is starting to show its age and may struggle against England’s youthful pace attack. Warne again disagrees, saying that “age only comes into it if you’re not performing” and pointing out that Australia have won 11 of their 12 Tests since the end of the Ashes.

These are not expected to be the last opinions given by former players on the current Ashes participants before the first Test begins in Brisbane on November 23.