Cricket: Warne eyes three more years

Shane Warne has ruled out a return to one-day internationals, saying he hoped the decision would prolong his test career for another three years.

"If people didn't believe me for the last 18 months or two years that I've retired, hopefully they do now," Warne told reporters yesterday.

"Of course I'd love to keep playing one-day cricket," the 35-year-old Australia leg spinner added.

"But I'm smart enough to realise if I continue to play both forms of the game, then I don't think I can play for another three years of test cricket, as I'd like to do."

Warne, who holds the world record for test wickets of 552 just ahead of Sri Lankan rival Muttiah Muralitharan, announced on the eve of the 2003 World Cup that he would quit one-dayers after the tournament.

He missed the event, however, for failing a drugs test and was banned for 12 months up to February 2004.

One of Wisden's five cricketers of the 20th century, Warne formalised his departure from one-day international cricket on Saturday by presenting batsman Michael Clarke with his number 23 one-day shirt.

"It's a tradition that hasn't really happened in cricket and I wanted to be the first guy," Warne said. "It's pretty simple. I love the way he plays the game. He entertains the crowd.

"There's nothing he has to live up to. I don't believe in that stuff. It's just a tradition I wanted to start."

Clarke made a century on his test debut in India earlier this year and another in his first test on Australian soil. He said he was honoured by the gesture.

World champions Australia host New Zealand for a three-match one-day series starting in Melbourne on Sunday, followed by a three-test series against Pakistan.

Warne is Australia's leading one-day wicket-taker with 291 wickets at an average of 25.82 in 193 matches. He is eighth on the all-time list.

- REUTERS