Inside the captaincy call that saw Steve Waugh chosen over Shane Warne

It is regarded as one of the most difficult captaincy calls in decades. Here’s the inside story of why Steve Waugh was chosen as captain over Shane Warne.

Shane Warne was lauded as cricket’s greatest showman when he produced his iconic Gatting ball, but did you know a few weeks earlier he did a sneaky impersonation of a punching bag?

England had never seen Warne bowl live before he landed in England in 1993 and Warne and captain Allan Border cooked up a plan to show their key batsmen none of his tricks.

And for a while it hurt.

Test batter Graham Hick hit 187 for Worcester against the Australians – including eight sixes off Warne who took 1-122 – as newspaper headlines focused on how Australia’s new wonder boy had been torn to shreds.

But Warne was a man with a greater plan. He willingly got smacked around by bowling nothing but a stock standard leg-break to keep his key weapons – the flipper and the wrong ‘un – top secret for the Tests.

It was brave, thoughtful decisions like this which were a sign of the tactical nous that later made him, with another gifted free spirit Keith Miller, the greatest player never to captain his country in a Test.

Shane Warne celebrates after his Ball of the Century. Picture: Getty Images

The duo were snubbed not for a lack of charisma of leadership smarts, simply the fear they would not behave themselves.

The Warne decision was a close call and a controversial one. Steve Waugh beat him for the job and did a fine job after growing into the role.

Warne captained Australia to victory in 10 of 11 50 over games but lost a borderline call to Waugh for the Test captaincy in 1999 after Mark Taylor retired.

Trevor Hohns selection panel recommended Warne for the job and sent their choice to the Australian Cricket Board for approval.

There was a small group of directors who favoured Warne but the majority were in Waugh’s camp, not because they felt Warne lacked tactical nous, but because, after dark, his behaviour was too volatile.

Australian Cricket Board chairman Denis Rogers from Tasmania was known to be deeply concerned about appointing Warne as was, surprisingly, some influential voices from Warne’s home state, Victoria.

Queensland based director Damien Mullins spoke out at the meeting saying he did not feel Warne could be trusted and a year later these concerns were validated when Warne was sacked as vice-captain following the discovery of lurid text messages sent to a British nurse.

There is no question Waugh justified the faith of the board call but some cricket fans – even rivals like Gatting – still feel a lingering sense of regret that Warne never captained Australia in a Test, if only to see where his maverick ways took the game.

“For me one of the really sad things that everybody in the world missed, not just me, was I think we all wanted to see Warnie captain Australia,” Gatting told News Corp.

“Guys like Beefy (Ian Botham) have tried and sometimes not really done well with it, but I just have the sneaky suspicion that Warnie would have been able to cope with it.

“The only thing that might have stopped him might have been the fact that he was Shane Warne and all that goes with it.”

Steve Waugh was made captain over Shane Warne, due to concerns over his behaviour. Picture: Robert Cianflone

WHO CALLED THE SHOTS

That of course was the issue.

Australia’s highly respected chief executive of the time, Malcolm Speed, had to interview Warne and Waugh before the captaincy call and noted leaders of different styles.

“It was the most difficult captaincy choice the board has had to make for many decades,’’ Speed told New Corp.

“It was the only time since Allan Border took over it’s been a very tough decision. The board are entitled to take into consideration the whole of the job.

“Some of the directors had a very strong view that Shane was too big a risk. What should not be lost was that Steve Waugh had a very good case to be captain.

“The board reserves the right to appoint the captain. My recollection is that (chairman) Denis Rogers was very strong on it (Waugh getting the job). The off field role of the captain is very important.

“Shane was more instinctive. Steve thought more about the process. I was not critical of Shane for that. There were some great captains who were entirely instinctive.’’

In his book Stickey Wicket, Speed wrote: “Waugh wore the captaincy like a badge of honour 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in a way I don’t believe Warne could have managed.’’

Warne had some interesting thoughts on captaincy. In Twenty20 cricket he liked his team to stay in the dressing room until just before the game started and explode on the field full of energy.

WAS HE A CAPABLE CAPTAIN

So could Warne have handled the Test job?

“The one thing we can say about Shane Warne is he wasn’t boring, was he?’’ said teammate Damien Fleming.

“He didn’t do boring, and while I know he didn’t captain – but in the end that can be just a title.

“He was a leader, wasn’t he? When things got tough he bowled the tough overs.

“When we needed wins he just believed when others didn’t that he could change the game.

“He intimidated opposition players and the most famous was Daryll Cullinan – who was a brilliant player besides facing Shane Warne.

“Chris Cairns hit him for this massive six in Wellington into the breeze, it might’ve gone out of the ground.

“Cairns talked later on how Warnie gives it the, ‘Ohhhh!’ and then stares at him. Cairns is thinking, ‘I’ve hit him for the biggest six of all time and he’s making me feel like I was lucky to do that.’’

Mark Waugh senses Warne could have done Test job.

“In that era I reckon we had five or six guys that could captain,’’ Waugh said.

“I never captained a game either, and I thought I would’ve done a good job.

“There’s no doubt Warnie could definitely have been a very good captain. His mindset was to win and attack, which I think is the right way to play cricket.

“He certainly would’ve had the cricket brain to be an excellent captain. Whether he could handle all the other issues like the media, that’s a different story.’’