Are these the words Shane Warne was saying this morning after the surprise announcement of Stuart MacGill’s retirement from Test cricket.
After arriving back in Melbourne today, he said he was very happy in retirement and had no intention of returning to Test cricket, but did add ” unless it was special circumstances ”
Warne also stated his team’s win in the IPL 2020 competition was way up there with his many cricket highlights and that this form of cricket was here to stay, but every cricket player should put playing for his country to be the ultimate goal.
Cricket Australia’s Terry Jenner said only “the 708 wicket-test great would qualify for a comeback that broke all protocol “. He saw referring to the fact that Warne is not a contracted player.
Australia now seems likely to continue with spin part timers Michael Clarke and Andrew Symonds, the only other players on the horizon seem to be South Australian Dan Cullen and Beau Cusson, neither of these players are contracted to the ACB.

A cricket final that had everything. The very last ball required to decide the winner, a crowd
on the edge of their seats and two teams determined to win. This form of cricket is exciting
and very popular and has everything for the sports fans. Big sixes, run outs, great bowling and great fielding. The entertainment provided at the venues stirred the crowds and had them fully involved in every game, no matter which side was on the field.
The final started with fireworks and finished that way, a fabulous night.
The royals have proved that they knew what they were doing when it came to buying talented cricketers. Shane Warne and Shane Watson proved to be exceptional buys, not to mention the young talent that has emerged because of IPL 2020. Cast as walkovers and chastised by officials for not spending enough on players, look who’s smiling now. GO ROYALS !!
What happens next season ? With talk of more and more money to spend, will teams be able to retain their players?
Once again congratulations to the Rajasthan Royals and Shane Warne, great win.

Now that the inaugural IPL series is over and the victorious Rajasthan Royals, led by their Captain and Coach, Shane Warne, are still celebrating. The least expensive team in the series ( $3 million) showed all others how to play the game. A great victory.
What next ? There is a lot of talk around about who will be starting 2020 teams and who will be playing where, but it seems that nothing is settled. The West Indies, backed by billionaire,Allen Stanford, is well on it’s way to get 2020 up and running. It has been reported that he has proposed a competition between West Indies and a side from Great Britain.
Is the future 2020WI or 2020GB ? Whatever happens this form of cricket is here to stay. With great cricketers like Shane Warne leading the way, it looks like a long and profitable future.

Rajasthan Royals win Indian Premier League final by three wickets.
Their victory in the inaugural IPL series, after being considered as underdogs prior to the
start of this revolutionary new form of cricket, must go down to the leadership of Shane Warne.
Many thought that this form of cricket would be a “Bollywood Spectacle” and not succeed, but
it has been a huge success, giving young unknown players a chance to play against some of the best
in the cricketing world. It also proved that these players could do the job. Not all the million of dollars
spent at auction on big name players could secure the final victory.

Shane Warne won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Chennai Super Kings could only reach a modest total 163 for five. The Royals were inspired by a
brilliant all round display by Yusuf Pathan who took three wickets and top scored with 56 runs off
39 balls. Sohail Tanvir hit the winning run, with Shane Warne at the other end. The Royals finished
with 164 for seven to take home the trophy and $1.2 million. The Kings as runner-ups take home
$600,000.

It was a great final, going down to the last over, before a great crowd. A lot of money has been
spent on players, but I think the huge tv audiences, the way the crowds have responded to players
from other countries has made IPL a fantastic success.

Image via Wikipedia

“We can play even better” Shane Warne stated this after booking a place in the final of the IPL.
After an absolutely brilliant display by all rounder Shane Watson the Rajasthan Royals went on to easily
defeat the Delhi Daredevils by 105 runs. You also must give huge credit to the captaincy of Shane Warne, who has taken,
what most people thought at the start of the tournament would be easy beats, into the finals. He has shown great
leadership, as well as his own contributions, with the bat and ball.
Now it all comes down to the final on 6th June at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai. The ground has
a capacity of 55,000 people all seated. It is the home ground of the Mumbai Indians.
I feel that after the way the Royals have played over the past couple of months that they will be very hard to beat.
Most experts believe the Rajasthan Royals will be too good on the day.

It would seem that the bad boy of cricket, Shane Warne, has at last settled down.

Everyone remembers his infamous exploits of a few years back when he was either sending lewd text messages, having sex on the bonnet of a car or helping out bookmakers , not to mention his mum’s tablets. These exploits were hard to miss as they were on the front page of every newspaper and on every tv channel. Where are all these women now, have they found a new world famous celebrity to sleep with, or have they vanished into a mundane home life and not spending their time on car bonnets ? His bad boy life style has led to his break-up from his wife Simone and his kids, Brooke, Summer and Jackson. A reconciliation was on the cards, but a text message or two ended that. I hope those beautiful young “Bollywood” stars are not receiving too many text messages !!! Are there any BMW’s in India ?

During his Captaincy of English Team Hampshire he was described by his neighbours at “Ocean Village”, a Southampton waterfront condos and townhouse complex , where Shane paid $930,000 for a four bedroom three story attached townhouse, as quiet and private and a “bit of a hunk” by others. You can probably work out which comments were by the local ladies. He was also described as having a 52 inch plasma tv, the only one around. Before settling down in the old dart he had received some bad press in Australia and was probably looking to a not so high profile life.

Now that Shane , it would seem, has settled down to a new life as an Indian celebrity as captain-coach of the Rajasthan Royals in the Twenty 20 I.P.L. competition, where he has had a very positive affect on the young players under his guidance. The competition seems to have so far been a great success and now destined for a long term form of cricket. Shane has been engaged to coach young up and coming Indian players, so his involvement in cricket will continue well into the future. He has now signed up for the new competition of “isixes World Series” ( see www.isixesworldseries.com ) which is due to start in July 2008 in Singapore. This new form of cricket has signed some of the world’s big names such asAnil Kumble,Heath Streak and New Zealander Craig McMillan and is sure to make an impact. Isixes is a six a side game that is sure to be a fast and dynamic tournament.

American billionaire Allen Stanford has also been in the cricket news, wanting to finance a new twenty20 competition between the West Indies and UK teams, with a winner take all prize of $20 million. All good for the world of cricket, as it will gain more and more popularity in more and more countries.

Always in the headlines, Shane Warne, is a great cricketer, one of the best the world has ever seen and maybe the best the world will ever see. His off field antics have created a notoriety that takes away from his on field brilliance. The former International “king of spin” is a genius of spin bowling as many of his victims will tell you.

I wish him all the best in his future adventures.

I wonder what past greats such as Dennis Lillie, Merv Hughes and Jeff Thomson would think about IPL Twenty20 cricket. Imagine what they would think about the huge payments the likes of Shane Warne and Andrew Symonds are receiving for 16 weeks !! If they were still playing now they would only be just catching up on the dollars.

The Royals have had a very successful start to the IPL Twenty20 competition. Leading from the front Shane Warne has set a high standard for his team. After a first up loss to Delhi DareDevils the team has had 4 wins in a row against the Kings XI Punjab, Deccan Charges, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders they now seem to be well set up to make it into the finals. With Shane Watson doing very well with the bat.

Swapnil Asnodkar, Yusuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja are the players of the future. These young Rajasthan Royals players have been given a great chance by Shane Warne, captain coach of the team, to compete against the best, including Sourav Ganguly in the IPL competition. He was very happy with the enthusiasm and willingness to learn that they showed. They are credit to cricket and will most likely be around in International cricket for a long time. Keep up the good work.

The suspension of match referee Pratap Kumar for one match and Shane Warne and Sourav Ganguly each being fined 10 per cent of their match fees for undisciplined conduct on the field makes you wonder how far this type of big stick attitude will go. Does this mean that you cannot question decisions ? I think that he was out !!

With the Australian Cricket Team preparing for the up coming tour of the West Indies the IPL will be without some of their top players returning home to Australia, this will mean many of their positions are being filled by up and coming young Indian players who are not very well known or unknown on the International cricket scene. Twenty 20 has given these players the chance to play with or against the worlds best, the likes of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Virender Sehwag. This opportunity will give them the chance that would probably take years to get if it was not for the IPL.
For this I think that the IPL has been a great success.