My XI
'You had to play Shane the bowler, and the man'
Part nine: Graham Gooch on his toughest competitors: Shane Warne bowled the best flipper, and he always tried to psyche out batsmen with his tactics
Producer: Tanveer Gogada
Related:
- Players/Officials : Shane Warne
Login to post comments
XComments have now been closed for this article
Fascinating insight from Gooch. Obviously, Warne was a superb bowler but he was so adept at getting under the skin of players that he simply 'psyched out' some of his opponents. Being a good player of spin was not usually enough against Warne, you had to be mentally tough too. I also think that facing him near the beginning of his career (like Gooch did) would have been particularly challenging as there can't have been much footage of his flipper and other variations. To witness his 'ball of the century' to Gatting from the other end must have been amazing and a bit scary too!
A drawing artist has to draw lines exactly according to his visual or imagination to create his master piece. Similarly, Shane Warne bowled according to his imagination without straying down for even 1 inch. He has left behind a saga, a legacy, seldom one can imagine to achieve anything like that.
Miandad - please don't forget!! Consistently the best of that era!