Shane Warne’s aversion to Steve Waugh is no secret, and while the former Australian cricket captain generally likes to stay calm while the legendary leg spinner is doing pot shots, a teammate has revealed that the batsman didn’t always bite his tongue.
Warne has repeatedly described Waugh as the “most selfish” cricketer he has ever played with. The bad blood comes from the time when Waugh was part of the selection panel that left the Spin King on the test team during a tour of the West Indies in 1999.
But it was already clear beforehand that the two were hardly related spirits.
Former Australian all-rounder Shane Lee – the brother of fast bowler Brett – has revealed how Waugh Warne burned with a cruel one-liner during the 1996 World Cup in Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka.
Lee was an inexperienced 22-year-old when he was selected in the World Cup squad after making his one-day international debut just two months before the tournament started. NSW’s powerful, busy pacemaker said Warne “was really nice to me” and took Lee under his wing.
But Waugh had a theory about why Warne had such a close relationship with his young teammate.
“He (Warne) picked me up and said,” It will be the Shane Show, me and you, the Shane Show, “Lee said in the latest episode of The Betoota Advocate podcast.
“And Steve Waugh pulled me aside and said, ‘How are you with Warnie?’
“I said, ‘Look, he was really nice to me.’ And Waugh says, “Buddy, do you remember when you were in school and when you were a kid at school who had no buddies? And this new child comes to school and the child without a partner is everywhere on the new child? ‘
“Waugh said, ‘You are the new child and Warnie is the child without friends.'”
Warnie’s work with the ladies is as famous as his delivery of Mike Gatting – and Lee learned firsthand how Leggie deals with members of the opposite sex in 1996.
He said that every player at the World Cup opening ceremony was accompanied by an Indian model and Warne promised to show him the ropes as an older statesman on the Shane Show.
“I was single at the time and Warnie was single on tour,” said Lee. Warnie said: ‘I will get the best two (models) for us – the Shane Show, the Shane Show’.
“Anyway, he put these two girls in a row and we had a drink and we go back to their place and we think everything will happen.
“Then we got there and their whole extended family is there and we spent the whole night signing autographs and having a bloody meal.
“I said, ‘Oh, the Shane Show, really Warnie?’ And he says, ‘Don’t tell the boys that!’ ”
The icy relationship between Warne and Waugh hit the headlines again last month when an ESPN Cricinfo study found Waugh had more outliers than any other player in the history of international cricket, and it was 70 percent of the time Fired the hit partner (73 times out of 104).
Warne claims he doesn’t “hate” Waugh, but after seeing the leak statistics, he wrote on Twitter: “Wow! So Waugh was involved in most run-outs in Test Cricket (104) and kicked his partner out 73 times – is that right? Mmmmmmmmm.
“Steve was definitely the most selfish cricket player I’ve ever played with and this status …”
Waugh did not take the bait, but made it clear what he thought of Warne when he responded to the last episode of their “feud”.
“People keep saying it’s a feud,” Waugh told Nine Papers in May. “But for me there is a feud between two people. I never decided to do it, so it’s just one person.
“His comments reflect themselves and have nothing to do with me. That’s all i would say “
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