Cricket: Warne names 600th victim

MANCHESTER - Shane Warne has a possible new cricket goal, a new bunny and a reason why he's finding wickets easier to come by as he prepares to make history at Old Trafford.

The Australian legspinner renews his romance with Manchester's ground in the third Ashes test against England, starting tonight, poised to become the first man to take 600 test wickets and he has named his victim as good friend Kevin Pietersen.

The milestone will be the third of Warne's cherished memories of Old Trafford. He bowled Mike Gatting there with his 1993 wonder ball and in 1997 celebrated the birth of his first daughter, Brooke, by collecting a bag of 6-48.

Eight years on, Warne is on 599 test wickets and believes 700 could be within his grasp, particularly at his current strike rate.

His last 33 tests have yielded 203 wickets, including 10 in Australia's two-run loss at Edgbaston. He took the 400th wicket in his 93rd test - comparatively slow - in 2001.

"That's nearly seven a game in that time, so I must be doing something pretty right," Warne said.

He has become more reliant on changes of pace and amount of spin on his deliveries to combat the disappearance of his flipper and wrong'un over recent years, but says he's benefiting from players trying to take him on more.

"A lot of teams think I'm not as good any more and they try and go after me, which gives me more of a chance," he said. "In the past, they would try and defend against me and score off the other guys a little bit more, so it was a lot harder to get your wickets."

Warne now believes he could go on and take 700 test scalps. "It depends on how long you play for, and I've always said once the enjoyment goes, I'll go," he said.

"If I keep bowling like I'm bowling, and we've been playing against India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, who are the best players of spin, and I'm taking wickets at a better rate than I have in my life, then 700 or more is a possibility.

"It all depends on how long I play for. That will be a little bit dictated by my personal life as well."

Old Trafford will become even more special if Warne can spearhead Australia to a 2-1 series lead, and he can maintain his hold over England opener Andrew Strauss.

Warne has already dubbed England batsman Pietersen "600" because he wants his Hampshire team-mate as his milestone victim.

But he gave Strauss a new nickname after bowling the left-hander twice with beauties at Edgbaston. "I call him the new Daryll. He's the new Cullinan, I reckon," Warne said in reference to one of his famous victims.

* Pace bowler Stuart Clark was yesterday called into the Australian squad as potential cover for Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath.

Clark, who has a contract with English county Middlesex, received a telephone call telling him he was needed as a back-up in case Australia's best two quick bowlers did not play in the third test.

He arrived in England only a fortnight ago and said that, at 29, he never thought he might be in the running to play in a test.

"I suppose it was always a hope and I knew I was coming to play county cricket, but to actually be here sitting here wearing this hat and this shirt and pants, no [I can't believe it]," he said.

Lee spent two nights in a Birmingham hospital, hooked up to antibiotics to treat an infected left knee. He will need to prove his fitness to be considered for the match.

- AAP