Shane Lee reveals Steve Waugh’s icy Shane Warne sledge

A former teammate has revealed how Steve Waugh brutally sledged Shane Warne before their relationship turned seriously sour.

Shane Warne and Steve Waugh didn’t always get along.

Shane Warne’s dislike for Steve Waugh is no secret and while the former Australian cricket captain is generally happy to stay quiet while the legendary leg-spinner takes pot shots, a teammate has revealed the batsman didn’t always bite his tongue.

Warne has repeatedly called Waugh the most “selfish” cricketer he ever played with, the bad blood stemming from when Waugh was part of the selection panel that dropped the Spin King from the Test team during a tour of the West Indies in 1999.

But even before then it’s clear the pair were hardly kindred spirits.

Former Australian all-rounder Shane Lee — the brother of fast bowler Brett — has revealed how Waugh burned Warne with a cruel one-liner during the 1996 World Cup, which took place in Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka.

Lee was an inexperienced 22-year-old when picked in the World Cup squad, having made his one-day international debut just two months before the tournament started. The big-hitting, bustling medium-pacer from NSW said Warne “was really nice to me”, taking Lee under his wing.

But Waugh had a theory as to why Warne forged such a close bond with his young teammate.

“He (Warne) took me in and said, ‘It’s gonna be the Shane Show, me and you, the Shane Show’,” Lee said on the latest episode of the Betoota Advocate Podcast.

“And Steve Waugh pulled me aside and goes, ‘How are you going with Warnie?’

“I said, ‘Look, he’s been really nice to me’. And Waugh goes, ‘Mate, do you remember when you were at school and there was a kid at school who had no mates? And this new kid comes to school, and the kid with no mates is all over the new kid?’

“Waugh said, ‘You’re that new kid and Warnie’s the kid with no mates’.”

Warne and Waugh aren’t on each other’s Christmas card lists.

Mates or no mates, Warnie’s work with the ladies is as famous as his Mike Gatting delivery — and Lee got a first-hand look at the leggie’s approach to members of the opposite sex in 1996.

He said every player was accompanied by an Indian model at the World Cup opening ceremony and Warne promised to show him the ropes as the elder statesman of the “Shane Show”.

“I was single at the time and Warnie was single on tour,” Lee said. “Warnie said, ‘I’ll get the best two (models) for us — the Shane Show, the Shane Show’.

“Anyway, he lined up these two girls and we had one drink and we’re going back to their place and we’re thinking it’s all going to happen.

“Then we got there and there’s her whole extended family there and we spent the whole night signing autographs and having a bloody meal.

“I said, ‘Oh, the Shane Show, really Warnie?’ And he goes, ‘Don’t tell the boys that!’”

The Shane Show didn’t always combine for the best results.

Warne and Waugh’s icy relationship was in the headlines again last month when an ESPN Cricinfo study found Waugh was involved in more run outs than any other player in the history of international cricket, and 70 per cent of the time it was his batting partner who was dismissed (73 times out of 104).

Warne maintains he doesn’t “hate” Waugh but after seeing the run-out stats, wrote on Twitter: “Wow! So Waugh was involved in the most ever run outs in Test cricket (104) and ran his partner out 73 times – is that correct? Mmmmmmmmm.

“Steve was easily the most selfish cricketer that I ever played with and this stat …”

Waugh didn’t take the bait but still made it clear what he thinks of Warne when he responded to the latest instalment of their “feud”.

“People keep saying it’s a feud,” Waugh told Nine papers in May. “But to me, a feud’s between two people. I’ve never bought into it, so it’s just one person.

“His comments are a reflection of himself, nothing to do with me. That’s all I’d say.”