Shane Warne’s blueprint for Australian cricket calls for NZ’er Stephen Fleming as coach

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MELBOURNE, Australia — Veteran legspinner Shane Warne’s personal blueprint for the future of Australian cricket calls for the appointment of friends and former teammates to key roles.

Warne says former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming should replace South African Mickey Arthur as Australia coach, and he wants the dismissal of selection chairman John Inverarity and other senior officials. Former wicketkeeper Rod Marsh was Warne’s alternative to Inverarity.

The 43-year-old Warne posted the blueprint on his website on Wednesday, a day after launching a strongly worded attack on the Australian administration in a series of Twitter posts.

Warne, who has retired from international cricket but still plays in Australia’s Twenty20 Big Bash League, claims Australian cricket is in disarray and says some officials are “muppets.”

He promised his more than one million Twitter followers to support his rhetoric with action, and asked for 24 hours to produce his own blueprint for Australian cricket. Warne posted the 1,110-word document on Wednesday, saying he was motivated by his passion for the sport and the Australia team.

“As an emotional, passionate and Australian cricket team supporter (and player) for the best part of 20 years (a proud one too) I, like many others, am frustrated on many levels at present,” Warne said.

“If we do nothing now we will be where we were 30 years ago. There needs to be urgent action and a new strategy/plan put in place. The current set-up is not working, as the results are showing.”

Australia is ranked No. 3 in the world in tests and one-day internationals and seventh in Twenty20 cricket. It swept its most recent test series against Sri Lanka, shared the one-day series 2-2, and lost the Twenty20 series 2-0.

Warne has been an outspoken critic of the rotational selection policy Australia has employed in recent months, under the guidance of its high-performance manager, former Australia rugby player Pat Howard.

The policy is intended to spread the workload of international play among a wider group of players and, particularly, to minimize injuries and prolong the careers of fast bowlers.

Australia uses separate test, one-day and Twenty20 squads with a small group of players appearing in all three formats. Warne said the same group of 11 players should be chosen for all international matches.

“You get to know the person,” he said. “Too much chopping and changing leads to insecurity.

“Players then start to look out for themselves and over their shoulder. This breeds selfishness.

“It’s also why rotation and resting players will never work. We have the best batsman/captain in world cricket at the moment in Michael Clarke and the spine of a good team with (David) Warner, (Shane) Watson, (Matthew) Wade, (Peter) Siddle and (Nathan) Lyon. The rest of the spots are up for grabs in my opinion.”

Warne called for his former teammates Damien Murray, Mark Waugh, Glenn McGrath, Darren Lehmann, Mike Hussey, Michael Bevan, Merv Hughes and Bruce Reid to take on key roles.

Lehmann would be assistant national coach under Fleming, while Hussey and Bevan would be batting coaches and Hughes and Reid bowling coaches. Former test captain Ian Chappell would be a consultant to the national team.

Warne said Fleming was the best opposing captain he encountered in his international career but it was unlikely the New Zealander would be open to the appointment. Fleming has repeatedly turned down senior coaching roles since his retirement from international cricket.

“All of (these) people are cricket people, not rugby, tennis or from any other sporting code,” Warne said.

“It’s time to get back to basics. Too many people are justifying their existence. If the people (he named) were to fill these roles, then Australian cricket would be in good hands and a great chance of getting back to No. 1.”

15:26ET 30-01-13