Cricket: Have we seen the last of Warne?

Shane Warne's cricketing future is up in the air. Picture / Reuters

LONDON - Shane Warne's cricketing future is up in the air, with the superstar spinner not ready to commit to playing in Australia's attempt to regain the Ashes in 14 months.

Warne was named Australian player of the series on his 36th birthday yesterday, having taken 40 wickets and contributed strongly with the bat in the 2-1 series loss to England.

His performances demonstrated how vital he remains to the Australian team and were more remarkable because his marriage had ended in scandal on the eve of the series.

But the record test wicket-taker is considering whether it's time to end an extraordinary test career or whether to soldier on to the 2006-07 Ashes series in Australia.

"With international cricket you've got to take the whole package," Warne said. "It's the living out of a suitcase, it's the living in hotels, it's the touring, it's the time away from your family, your children. It's doing warm-ups, it's training, it's all those sorts of things.

"You can't just say I want to keep playing ... you've got to take the sponsors' functions, you've got to do all those sorts of things as well.

"So you've got to look at the whole package and then weigh up what's the most important thing to you.

"At this moment in my life, my kids are the most important. I haven't seen them for a lengthy period, probably in the last 10 months, and I really am missing them.

"I've got a couple of weeks left here for Hampshire and then I'll get home and see them, which will be great.

"I've played for a long, long time and I'm not going to rush any of those decisions. I'm going to wait until I get home and weigh everything up.

"Hopefully, in 18 months, if I'm still around, then I'd love the opportunity to try to regain the Ashes in Australia. If I'm not, well ... "

Reflecting on his Ashes performance, Warne made reference to his marriage split which followed newspaper allegations of extramarital affairs by the cricketer.

"I didn't set any individual goals, but I'm very proud of the way I've gone about it, and more importantly than the statistic side of things is personally what I've had to go through, which nobody will understand."

- AAP