Shane Warne is coming out of retirement to play in this year’s T20 Big Bash, but over in South Africa current Australian skipper Michael Clarke will be facing a very different challenge of his own. All Out Cricket’s betting partners Betfair run the rule on tomorrow’s first Test.
Not for the first time Shane Warne grabbed all the headlines today when the story should have been about the Australian cricket team.
The man they call ‘Hollywood’ announced in a press conference that he will be making a return to competitive cricket by turning out for the Melbourne Stars in this summer’s Twenty20 Big Bash League, staged at the MCG.
“There had been a few offers about coming out to play and I was pretty comfortable with where I was at,” Warne told the assembled press at the MCG.
“But then looking back at how lucky I’d been with Australia and Australian cricket and what I’d been able to achieve at the highest level with a great group of players, when Cricket Australia started to launch the BBL, something new with all the city-based teams, it was something quite exciting.”
Over in South Africa though, the Australian national team have far more important things on their minds than the latest comeback of a 42 year-old better known these days for endorsing poker websites, having more hair now than he did 10 years ago and being the latest love interest of the ever-glamorous Liz Hurley.
South Africa is one of the toughest places in the world to go for a Test series, something which new skipper Michael Clarke will be fully aware of. His captaincy was praised during their 1-0 series win over Sri Lanka but that was against a team in transition, whereas this Proteas side is virtually a ‘Who’s Who’ of Test stars.
South Africa’s batting line-up looks a formidable one with Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers and Graeme Smith to name but a few, but Australia can be said to be more in ‘Test mode’ seeing as the hosts haven’t played a match in the longest format since January of this year. The Betfair market finds it hard to split the two with South Africa at 2.8, Australia 3.3 and the draw at 2.9.
We find the two teams very hard to split ourselves whilst the draw is also a lively runner, with rain predicted for day one at the very least. Shaun Marsh looked made for the longest format over in Sri Lanka, including a century on Test debut, and the South African attack won’t have seen too much of him. He’s 6.0 to be Australia’s top runscorer in the first innings and that’s where our money is going.
