Former Australian cricketer Shane Warne has named Australia’s best playing XI he has ever played with. The veteran said that he had to make tough choices to pick the best among bests.
The legendary spinner Shane Warne was the part of the team when Australia was at his peak and ruling the cricket world. He has played for the country from 1992 to 2007. And has played under many successful captains. In his playing XI, he has given the captaincy to Allan Border who captained the Australia team to the maiden World Cup trophy.
Shane Warne picks Adam Gilchrist as the wicketkeeper-batsman:
In an interesting session with fans on social media, Shane Warne explained that he had to make a tough choice to name the openers. He finally chooses Matthew Hayden and Michael Slater. According to him, the current Aussie coach Justin Langer, right-handed batsman David Boon, Geoff Marsh, and star batter Mark Taylor also presented a tough case for the openers slot.
He has also opined that he had to make tough choices between Adam Gilchrist and Ian Healy for the wicketkeeper-batsman jobs. But he clarified that Gilchrist has an edge over Ian because of his batting. Gilchrist is the swashbuckling and destructive batsman because of which Shane has selected for the wicketkeeping job.
In his team, there are four bowlers- Glenn McGrath, Bruce Reid, Tim May, and Jason Gillespie while he has also named 12th man-Merv Hughes.
Glenn McGrath, Bruce Reid, and Jason Gillespie are the pacers while there is one spinner Tim May. The spinner has taken a total of 114 international wickets in 71 matches between 1987 to 1995.
The following is Warne’s pick for the greatest Australian XI he was ever-part of:
- Matthew Hayden
- Michael Slater
- Ricky Ponting
- Mark Waugh
- Allan Border (Captain)
- Steve Waugh
- Adam Gilchrist (Wicket-keeper)
- Glenn McGrath
- Bruce Reid
- Jason Gillespie
- Tim May
- Merv Hughes (12th man)