Shane Warne played under the leadership of Steve Waugh in arguably the most dominant Test side the game has even seen. Warne was Waugh’s most trusted spin deputy at that time but both had a troubled relationship with each other.
When the spin legend talked about his former captain in an on-air TV program, his long-standing feud with Steve Waugh was out in the open once again. He labelled the former Australian captain as the most selfish cricketer he had ever played with.
Warne appeared on a Channel Ten’s I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here program where he made clear about his thoughts on Waugh. He said, "There's a lot of reasons I don't like Steve Waugh, a lot of reasons ... because he's the most selfish cricketer I've played with, blah, blah, blah,"
Steve Waugh is the most selfish cricketer I've played with – Warne
The 46-year-old cricketer also spoke about the fateful incident that happened nearly 17 years ago when he was removed from the final Test against the West Indies in 1999 despite Australia trailing 1-2 in that series. Colin Miller had replaced Warne in that Test in Antigua and Australia registered a 176-run win to draw the series 2-2.
Warne said, "One thing that really annoyed me about him was the one Test I got dropped, in West Indies. We had to win the last Test match to win the trophy. At that stage, captain (Waugh), vice-captain (me), coach (Geoff Marsh) used to pick the team,"
"We went to selection. I hadn't bowled well, we'd lost - Brian Lara batted unreally - but I felt like I was being the scapegoat because I didn't bowl well it was my fault.
"Anyway, we get to selection table and I said, 'OK, what's everyone's thoughts?'. Steve Waugh said, 'You're not playing'. I went, 'What? Hang on. What do you think the team should be? Blah blah blah', and Steve Waugh said 'No, I'm the captain of this side, I'm the captain, you're not playing'.
"I was really disappointed. After 10 years. I'd just had a shoulder op. I thought the situation where we had to win the Test match would have brought the best out of me too."
Warne then ended the Waugh episode by adding, "I don't like Steve Waugh for a lot of other reasons."
Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download CricRocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more! 🚀☄️
