Shane Warne Absolutely Rips Into John Buchanan Over Michael Clarke Comments


Ahhh, Shane Warne. Beloved cricketing icon. One-time squeeze of Elizabeth Hurley. Man who can fit the entire rim of a glass in his mouth.

Never forget.
Warne, however, is also an expert haver of opinions, particularly when it comes to the game he played professionally, and the people involved in the industry.
So when former Australian national coach John Buchanan made some – let’s call them strong – remarks about the soon-to-be retired Test Captain Michael Clarke, questioning the Baggy Green legacy he leaves behind, Warne took it upon himself to respond in kind.
Buchanan – who coached Clarke in his early Test career, but not during his tenure as captain – spoke to NewsCorp a few days ago, following on Matthew Hayden‘s revelation that Clarke once threatened to hand in his Baggy Green cap if he was forced to field at bat pad.
Buchanan characterised Clarke as a loud, opinionated character who would seldom take a backwards step. But also as one who ultimately leaves a much different legacy to the game than consensus greats like Steve Waugh, Ricky Pointing, or Adam Gilchrist.

“Players like Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting and others really tried to make the baggy green culture something special but I could sense it was under threat and under Michael’s captaincy I can sense it has disappeared a bit and that disappointed me. It was almost as if Clarke was destined to be captain and he never was a silent partner – he had strong opinions and the good thing was that meant if he saw something he did not agree with he would certainly speak up about it.”


“If he finished games early, Michael would often leave early. I can remember guys like Hayden and Langer sitting him down in a corner and trying to get him to understand what we were trying to achieve. There were times when I felt Michael did not understand or did not want to understand.
“If Michael reads this I am sure he will say he did cherish the culture but if you asked him to define it, his definition would not be the same as the likes of Adam Gilchrist, Ponting or myself.”

Warne – who had a long and very well documented dislike of Buchanan as coach – didn’t take too kindly to those remarks whatsoever, and went into bat for Clarke on The Today Show earlier this morning.

This bloke had no idea about the game of cricket, John Buchanan. Never played the game, doesn’t know what the players go through.

Welllllllll, see Shane. Here’s the thing about that. Buchanan never played TEST cricket, sure. He did, however, play First Class cricket for Queensland, and had a stint in England as well.

As for claiming he has “no idea about the game of cricket,” there’s an unprecedented coaching career that begs to differ – which includes steering Queensland to its first ever Sheffield Shield victories, as well as casually managing to oversee the most successful and dominant period of cricket the Australian national team has ever experienced, which included 3 successive World Cups.
‘Course Buchanan’s comments aren’t exactly the most gentle of sentiments, but Warne’s long-standing spat with his former coach is 100% on display here, in all its rambling glory.
And if there’s one thing we’ve learned about Shane Warne post-retirement, it’s that there are few things he likes more than a camera and a live mic.
Photo: Max Mumby/Indigo via Getty Images.


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