Warnie: should he come back immediately?

How many days left?

Too many. :-(

Yes. Yes. No. Maybe.

MaGilla is safe until 10/02/2004. He will then (if he has any self-respect) announce his retirement from international cricket. Warnie will be welcomed back with open arms, and his place is safe if his form gets back to what it was prior to the pills.

And in another 3-5 years, Cam White (or someone else) will be ready to replace him.

Immediately if the ban can be overturned. Or on 10/2/2004 if it can't.

And he should give his phone to MacGill, who will be glad of the attention it affords him.

No, the duration of the ban should not be questioned now. The interpretation of what is not permissible has been taken to extremes, but as originally delivered, it was a reasonable judgment.

But the moment he's elegible . . .

(how many seconds to go . . . )

to quote an oft-used acronym: Wgaf? I don't.

"to quote an oft-used acronym: Wgaf? I don't. "

Then don't respond.

You obviously care enough to comment, otherwise you wouldn't be in here.

by Chloe Saltau
from Sunday Age

Australian one-day captain Ricky Ponting will encourage exiled leg-spinner Shane Warne to stall his retirement from ode-day cricket and use the shorter form of the game as his path back into the Test team.

Test skipper Steve Waugh has advised against selecting Warne for next February's tour of Sri Lanka, which begins only days after his suspension expires on February 10, and said the much-anticipated tour of India in September would be a more realistic goal for the 34-year-old, who was banned for one year for taking a prohibited diuretic.
Ponting said a return to one-day cricekt would hasten his transistion to Test cricket after more than 12 months out of the game.
"I think he'll want to, and I don't think he'll want to finish one-day cricket the way he did", Ponting said. "There are a few personal things as well, like he said he was going to retire after the World Cup, and I think he was on 291 wickets, so he would probably have taken the 300th wicket in the World Cup some time.
"There are personal milestones for him to achieve along the way as well and him being back in the one-day side might be his avenue back into cricket for Australia again. Who knows? Everyone knows he's going to be good enough, so I'd love to have him back in the side."

In an interview in The Age yesteday, Waugh said it would be "expecting too much", even of one of history's greatest bowlers, to perform against such expert players of spin in Sri Lanka without having bowled.
Ponting agreed that Warne would be unlikely to tour Sri Lanka. "I don't know what his programming is, but we go away a couple of days after his (ban ends). I don't know what the selectors are thinking. He's obviously not going to be able to play any cricket before that tour and the guys we've got in have been doing a pretty good job," he said. "I'm sure when he's back and bowling well again, he'll obviously be thought about, but where and when that's going to be, I don't know. Hopefully, it's sooner rather than later."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Much as Punter was pissed off at Warne's behaviour, he's being sensible here - and spot on. The Sheik will be back, as good as ever. :-)