May 21, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 15, 1429

MELBOURNE, May 20: Cricket Australia (CA) has played down reports that retired leg-spinner Shane Warne could return to international cricket for next year’s Ashes tour of England.

The former leading Test wicket-taker, who quit the international arena after Australia’s 5-0 victory over England in early 2007, was quoted in local media as saying he would consider returning for the next Ashes series.

“If Australia really needed me and there was no one else around, and Ricky [Ponting] thought I could do the job, you would weigh up the options,” Warne was quoted as saying in Monday’s Herald Sun newspaper.

“If Stuey [Stuart] MacGill fell over and broke his leg, and there were no other spinners around, and Ricky came out and said, ‘Mate, can you please help us out for this one-off tour? We need you’, that is something I would weigh up.”.

CA chief executive James Sutherland, however, distanced his organisation from Warne’s comments.

“I’ve been in cricket long enough not to be surprised of any headlines that Warnie grabs,” a smiling Sutherland told reporters.

“The simple answer to that is that Shane is retired from international cricket and has been for 15 months or so.

“I acknowledge there has been speculation in the newspapers...but the reality is that Shane is retired and not available for selection.

“It is up to him if he wants to make himself available and that is something only he can decide. I haven’t spoken to him.”

Sutherland said if Warne made himself available, then it would be up to the selectors to decide on the best team.

“I’m not a selector,” he added. “They make decisions in the best interests of Australia cricket.

“They choose the best Australian cricket team based on those players that are available at the time.

“It’s not for me to be determining what the Australian cricket team needs.”

Warne, who took 708 Test wickets, has since retired from first-class cricket and is only playing in a domestic Twenty20 competition in India.—Reuters