Shane Warne yesterday apologized to Australia cricket Test skipper Michael Clarke after his comments about a possible dramatic return for next year’s Ashes series against England sparked a media frenzy.
“Sorry @MClarke23 if you woke up to calls!!!! See you soon buddy,” he tweeted to the skipper, a close friend.
The 43-year-old leg-spinner, regarded as one of the game’s greatest players, quit Tests in 2007, but captained the Indian Premier League side Rajasthan Royals for four years, winning the inaugural tournament in 2008.
Now preparing for another season in Australia’s Big Bash League with the Melbourne Stars, he told newspapers that he had “absolutely no doubt” he could bowl successfully at Test level again.
Warne said that if Clarke suggested his services were needed after the Test team’s recent bowling struggles against South Africa, he would give it some serious thought.
However, with Australian media buzzing about a possible return, Warne, who remains Australia’s highest ever wicket-taker with 708 Test scalps, took to Twitter to hose down the speculation.
“Clarification guys & thank-you for the kind words, but ... I was asked ‘could’ I play not ‘would’ I play. yes, I could. didn’t say I would!,” he tweeted.
In a second tweet, he added: “It was a hypothetical question re if Michael Clarke asked me. Read my quotes ‘I’m not asking Michael to ask me’ Hope I didn’t disappoint!”
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