Warne ahould be involved in spinning stars of the future: Waugh

Sydney, Dec 21 (UNI) Now that Shane Warne has drawn curtains on his illustrious career, former Australian skipper Steve Waugh feels cricket administrators in the country should make sure that the champion leg-spinner grooms stars for the future.

''I wouldn't be surprised if they offer him to be the England coach but we need to keep him here. Down the track he should be involved in our spinning stars of the future,'' Waugh wrote in his column for the 'Daily Telegraph'.

Waugh said he was shocked to hear about Warne's retirement as the veteran leg-spinner still had a few years of cricket left in him.

''Warnie's announcement came as a bit of a shock to me but he obviously thought it through long and hard. I think he made the right decision. He can take a step back and see where he is going and what the future may hold,'' he said.

Recalling the first time he saw Warne in action, Waugh he said he could easily make out that the leg-spinner was a star in the making.

''It was on a young Australian tour of Zimbabwe. Warnie was a just young kid on his first tour and I had never laid eyes on him before. I can still recall the first over he bowled. I was fielding at bat-pad and I could here the ball fizzing down the wicket. It's something I have never heard before or since from another bowler,'' he said.

''It was just the revolutions and energy he was putting on the ball. I thought to myself, 'Jeez this kid is pretty special' and the next minute he then landed the next six balls exactly where he wanted on a perfect length,'' he added.

Waugh felt, the veteran's on-field exploits were enough to make him the greatest ever Aussie cricketer after Sir Donald Bradman.

''It's very hard to judge across eras but Shane Warne would sit pretty comfortably as Australia's second best player ever. The great Sir Don Bradman was the best but after that I believe Shane Warne would slot in pretty nicely at number two,'' Waugh explained.

''Simply because he has been responsible for winning more Test matches than anyone else that I have seen or played with. What made Shane Warne so great was his love of the game. He always enjoyed the challenge of competing against the best in the toughest circumstances - that's when he produced his best,'' he added as he lavished praise on the leg-spinner.

Describing Warne as a resilient and courageous sportsman, Waugh said the spin legend was a special talent as he could pick the weaknesses of his opponent.

''One of his great skills on the field, that set him apart from other, was his intuition. He could pick up on the body language of the opposition player and sense weakness. He instinctively knew the right time to lift the intensity in his game which ignited those around him,'' the former skipper said.

''Warnie was always a match winner because he had a great repertoire and a sense for the occasion. The greater the stakes the better the performance,'' he went on to add.

Waugh, who led Australia to the 1999 World Cup in which Warne was declared the man-of-the-series, said as captain he could always fall back upon the leg-spinner i tough situations as he -- along with Glenn McGrath -- always delivered.

''As a captain he and McGrath were the go-to guys. They were the first guys I would give the ball to after lunch or after tea to try and get a wicket and keep the runs down,'' he said.

''As a captain, those guys were the bankers - the guys you could rely on. I feel privileged to have played along side Shane because in all our lifetime we may not ever see one like him,'' he added.

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