Ian Chappell is pushing a familiar wagon. Shane Warne as captain. Once Ian gets a woody over a girl, it doesn’t matter if she becomes a nun, the man still talks about it about what it would be like to be with her for the next 30 years.

It’s almost as if he doesn’t think repetition is annoying. It’s almost as if he doesn’t think repetition is annoying. It’s almost as if he doesn’t think repetition is annoying.

This is one of those occasions where he is right, which is also annoying. Warne would have been a captain and a half. He would have been some weird hybrid of Stephen Fleming, Imran Khan and Teddie Whitten.

'The only downside I have noticed over the years is that Warne doesn’t bowl quite as well as captain. But Warne at 90% is usually enough - hell, Warne at 40% can be hard to deal with'


I probably haven’t seen Warne captain as much as, say, someone from Hampshire has, but I have seen enough. The first time I saw him captain was for Australia in a one-day series against England and Sri Lanka. The Australian team was good, but it still had some duds in it. Brendan Julian, Shane Lee and Adam Dale to be exact.

Australia won ten of the 11 games in that series. And Warne’s captaining was the reason.

The main thing about that series I remember was that when batsmen were hitting balls down to third man for easy singles, he would plug the gap with a third or fourth slip, and let them roll the dice, even if it was in the 47th over. Also, like Rajhastan now, he had them up and excited. They thought they could win every game, no matter what happened.

They were a cohesive well-oiled machine that played more like an Aussie rules team than a cricket team. Although unfortunately none of them hip and shouldered anyone.

Then Steve Waugh came back, and he captained his way. Which, whilst being extremely effective in Tests, wasn’t really suited to one-day cricket, and Australia only won the '99 World Cup because Warne, Glenn McGrath and Steve were too good when it mattered. The actual team performed terribly in that World Cup.

For Victoria, the few times I saw him captain them, his tactics were impressive, but what was most impressive was the way he got players to lift for him. Ian Harvey was a good player for Victoria, but when he played under Warne, he was Freakin Freddie Flintoff (the original one, not the new one made of marshmallows).

Darren Berry seemed to only be able to bat when Warne was around. And a bunch of journeymen state players stepped up under him time and time again.

The only downside I have noticed over the years is that Warne doesn’t bowl quite as well as captain. But Warne at 90% is usually enough - hell, Warne at 40% can be hard to deal with.

What you are now seeing from the Royals is everything Warne has learnt in cricket. Tactics that are baffling the opposition. The “we can win from anywhere” mentality, and we will, you b*stard. The team playing like a footy team, hunting in a pack. The younger players feeling inspired. The older players feeling liberated. And Warne at the helm showing everyone that he is the man.

If only he had kept his zipper locked in the 'up' position at nights, and potentially, the world could have seen an amazing captain.