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What do you think of Shane Warne announcing his retirement, and possibly Glenn McGrath to follow. Will Australia's dominance in test cricket continue? Here are some of the latest views.
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Saumil Kapadia
Warne should only be remembered from a statistical point of view as the first bowler to take 700 test wickets (if he gets there). Nothing more, nothing less. Warne's achievements are highly overrated. To say that Warne is the greatest bowler ever is an insult to other spinners who played in a different era; an era when batting was of much higher calibre than it is now. Spinners like Bedi, Chandrasekhar, Prasanna, Underwood, Gibbs and so on, would have taken many more wickets if they had played against current batsmen, or if those spinners had played the same number of matches as Warne.
Sam Swain
Living in Australia I know that this side of the Tasman Warne is considered the greatest bowler ever. But if you look the records of all bowler in the top 100 in history and gave each the same number of overs as Warne he would not rate in the top 80, ie Richard Hadley would have take 1084 wickets on his average. Warne's off field behaviour was not that of a role model and on the field was often unsporting. His one claim to fame will be something like 715 test wickets, that record will last another 18 months probably. Saying all of this he brings in the crowds and added colour to the game. Would NZ tolerate an All Black that behaved like Warne and score 20 points a game? I don't think so and here in is the differnce in the two cultures.
William Ronaldson
Shane is simply the greatest, I never saw Bradman play so I'd have to say Shane Warne is the greatest player to play the game for a generation. I think this was best exempliafied in the 2nd Ashes test in Adelaide this year, no one in the world could have done what Warnie did that day. Anyone though that thinks that Australia will be beatable now is way wrong. Yes, they won't be as good, you can't replace Warne, ever. But just look at their one day side, they still dominate.
Jonathon Letts
Sick to death of people criticising Warne for his off field whatever, as if its any of our business and he doesnt have to be "role model". Yet readers are quick to gush over the likes of Elton, Bowie and Freddie Mercury all of whom did things that would make Warnes antics pathetic. Entertainers dont have to be role models.Take your tall poppy syndrome elsewhere.
Sunil Kumar
Spin wizard,sultan of spin,spin tormentor. The accolades will keep flowing & rightly so. How we all wished he would touch the magical number of 1000 wickets. All the very best to him. However there seems to be a small blemish in his illustrious career. If you look at his wickets its more against countries who are traditionally weak in spin play England(nearly 200 wickets)West Indies, Zimbabwe but not so against strong players of spin bowling esp. India where his avg. hits all time low against all test playing countries so what does it suggest? Would be a complete bowler if he averaged more or less the same against all test playing nations.
Peter Dodd
Shane Warne will go but the Aussies have such incredible depth that they are likely to remain the worlds number one for at least another 1o years. As in basketball and soccer(disaster) the kiwis should join the Aussies state comp,the Pura cup,surely a great breeding ground for up and coming players.
Raj
End of an era. Aussie cricket will never be the same. They cannot be replaced and this will have a huge impact on Aussie test cricket. They will be missed by the purists of the game and the game will never be the same again. Good luck to them and thanks for the memories.
Dillon Ngamoki
Whilst certainly one of the greatest bowlers of all time, he had the morals of an alley cat and sadly epitomises the semi-illiterate "Strayan" cultural icon. I feel for his wife and kids. Would they not have preferred a faithful and loving husband and father. Fame in whatever form is shallow and short-lived.
Paul Whelan
Shane Warne will go down as one of the greatest Leg Spin bowlers of all time.
Keith Hawker
There is a lot of misty-eyed stuff around Shane Warne
at the moment. He was, undoubtedly, a great bowler, but he certainly wasn't the best, in fact, in my humble view, he isn't even the best leggie. Clarrie Grimmett is. Still, the game will not be quite the same without Warne.
Satish Kamath
When Shane Warne played his first test against India little did the cricket world anticipate a long international career for him. Without doubt, Shane Warne is one of the best spinners in contemporary cricket and easily the most successful one.Though he did not have much success against Asian cricket teams, he was able to weave magic while bowling against the other test cricket playing nations. To add to his bowling talent was his ability to frustrate many a bowling attack with the bat and his agility as a reliable slip fielder /catcher.If he does choose to retire , it will be premature as he still has the ability to turn a match on it's head with his leg spinners. His absence from the Australian bowling attack will make a huge difference to Australia's ability to win on all surfaces. Glenn McGrath has had the best batsmen tied up in knots on all surfaces. Should he choose to announce his retirement as well, Australia's bowling will be weakened beyond doubt. We may see the emergence of a new order in international cricket.
Graham Hutton
There is no doubt about Shane Warne's brilliance as a cricketer. Any suggestion that he is not (nor should he be) a role model is stupid to say the least. Any high profile personality be it sporting, political or an entertainer has an obligation to their public, (without whom they have no arena) and Shane Warne let the side down very badly for a long time. He is quite simply a "grub" albeit with an enormous talent. Celebrate his career by all means but do not make the mistake of thinking that his performance on the field justifies his performance off.
Raj Subramanian
Shane Warne if retires will be among legends of the game with 699 wickets. Of course, he got some off-field problems, but no way it affected his bowling performance. He had his armoury of Sharp spinners, wrong ones, flight, length and line, his intelligence to cut through into batsmen's least of mistakes were few to name. I will definitely miss one of the great cricketers of our era.McGrath who cut down his initial pace is a nightmare for batsmen all over the world. He studies the batsmen on-field and sets up his deliveries to entice the batsmen into submission. We will all miss these two, though replacements in Australia are in hundreds. But those abilities are built on the models shown by the likes of Warne and McGrath to whom the replacements will owe a lot.
Steve King
Shane Warne will be remembered as one of the true greats of cricket history. In my books he rates as number 2 behind the great Bradman. Warne is without a doubt the greatest bowler cricket has ever known. No one has worked harder on the field than Warney - his statistics are proof of this. Yes, Warne has had his off field misdemeanours, but he should be and will be long remembered as one of the best to have graced the game. It will be a sad moment for cricket when he bowls his last delivery in Sydney in the New Year.
Damian Sharkey
Warne & McGrath have been the lynchpin in so many Australian test victories, you start to lose count.Their brilliance was typified in the third Ashes test where the Australian batsmen set a daunting target for England. Warne & McGrath toiled hard all day on the 4th day and were patient. Then the patience paid off with 2 key McGrath wickets in the final overs and, going into the 5th day, their patience again broke the English batsmen. What a daunting psychological task facing those two - every weakness exposed on a grand level and to grand effect. They will be missed by cricket fans and even their opponents (or not!).
Jason Clarke
Shane Warne and Wasim Akram are the greatest bowlers I have ever seen. I remember back in the mid nineties when Mark Taylor would always bat first so that Warne could bowl last and clean the opposition out. As he got older he relied less on ripping the ball and more on guile, patience and getting in the batsmens (and umpires) heads. Time and again a batsman would play a stupid shot or the umpire would give a dodgy LBW because it was Shane Warne bowling. I'm not sure which was better (the younger Warne bamboozling the batsman with unplayabe deliveries or the veteran Warne putting on a show and psyching out the batsman.) Both were great entertainment. I just know that I'll be tuning in to a sold out Boxing Day Test in Melbourne when he gets his 700th wicket on his home pitch.
Bill Heath
We will look back on the career of Shane Warne as we do Bradman the greatest bowler to have played the game. Do not judge the player on what he did off the field but how he changed the game, dominated it for over 10 years and left it in a better state than when he arrived. Shane Warne did not ask to be a role model and should not be seen as one. A child's role models should be their parents not sports people.
Michael
Good riddance. He was a disgrace to sport with his off-field behaviour. I expect my boys to have role models to look up to with their sporting heroes and Shane was their top cricket man. How do you explain to them that his romantic carry on was not the sort of blokey behaviour they should consider mirroring.
Jolly
I think retirements of these two players certainly end era of Aussie spin and swing in the IC level. Overall speaking this team set the standard of cricket so high for the rest of the world, especially under the captaincy of Ricky. It doesn't matter for team like that if someone in or out.
Hayden McInnes
Finally! Why couldn't this have happened years ago? The rest of the world may have had a chance. By far the best of their kind, and their focus and experience put as much fear into batsmen than their deliveries. They couldn't be more opposite off the field, but on it, both geniuses.
Stephen Matheson
Shane Warne_no don't go! I guess you only know yourself when it is time to retire. He could play until he is 40, however there are many other things in life than cricket. Warne is probably the greatest player in my lifetime. He is a freak and I hope he does not retire just yet.
Glen McGrath I guess I would like to see more off Michell Johnson, and some more up and coming fast Bowlers.You can sure Australia has a few of those tucked away somewhere. I would say retire spend time with your wife. A few Kiwi batsmen would say the same.
Lars
Shane Warne is the greatest Bowler to ever play the game of Cricket. Regardless of what he got up to off the pitch it is what he has done on the pitch that counts. Thanks for the memories you are a dead set legend and will be missed by all true sports fans. I still think the Aussies will continue to have the best Cricket team in the world even if MacGrath quits as well as they have replacements who have been groomed to step into their large shoes.
Alvin Prasad
He is the best spin bowler to ever grace the cricket pitch. No matter what personal issues or problems he has ad, He has always been the best on the pitch. Cricket is truly losing one of its true champions.
Homestay boy
I think they will still rip up the world in cricket. They will still have Symonds, Ponting and Hussy. Also after hearing the commentators at the Ashes it sounds like the Aussies have a lot of up and coming players not in the australian side also they dont relly have anyone who could relly challenge them.
