Shane Warne picks his greatest South African Test XI
Australian spin wizard Shane Warne has come up with his selection of the greatest South African Test XI, cricket.com.au reports. The 46-year-old enjoyed much success against the Proteas during his playing days and his Test XI of one of his favourite opponents throws in some surprises, the biggest being the choice of Hansie Cronje as skipper of the side.
Warne previously selected the best Australian and English Test and ODI XI over the past 25 years and stated yesterday on his official Facebook account that he would be carrying out a similar selection of all the international teams. He would round off the selections by picking a combined Ashes XI, an XI comprising of the greatest players he would have loved to play against and finally the greatest ever XI to have played the game.
Warne started off with South Africa, against whom Warne picked up 130 Test wickets in 24 matches, the second highest tally against any opposition after bitter rivals England against whom the leg-spinner has taken 195 wickets from 36 matches.
AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn are the only two players still playing international that made it to Warne’s squad with the fast bowler being a late entry after Warne had initially picked Fanie de Villiers, only to edit his post 45 minutes later.
Speaking on the choice, Warne wrote: “Fanie De Villiers was the hardest player to leave out as he was all quality."
Warne picked Graeme Smith and Gary Kirsten as the openers for his team but stated that leaving out the likes of Herschelle Gibbs and Andrew Hudson as well as Gary’s half-brother Peter was a tough choice. All-rounder Jacques Kallis at No 3 and De Villiers at 4 might have been the easiest choices for Warne, but the selection of Cronje could raise some eyebrows.
The now deceased former South African skipper was handed a life ban from the sport for his involvement in match-fixing during South Africa’s tour to India in 2000, but Warne decided to focus on his abilities as a cricketer alone, especially his impressive captaincy record of 27 wins in 53 matches. Jonty Rhodes’ fielding abilities alone warranted him a place in the side while Warne opted for Mark Boucher as the specialist wicketkeeper.
Joining Steyn in the pace attack was the duo of Shaun Pollock and Alan Donald who proved a deadly combo for the South Africans as they made their re-entry into cricket in the 1990s. The lone spinner in the side is Pat Symcox with his batting abilities pulling him ahead of Paul Adams who Warne stated would be his backup spinner.
Among the prominent all-rounders to not make the cut was Brian McMillan and Lance Klusener, but Warne was quick to add that the latter would "would make any world XI one-day team".
Also missing out was Daryll Cullinan who was a ‘bunny’ for Warne having dismissed him four times out of the 12 occasions the South African was dismissed in his seven Tests against Australia. Always up for some banter, Warne couldn’t resist taking a dig at Cullinan.
"Lastly, sorry Mr. Cullinan but couldn't squeeze you in," Warne wrote. "Was fun bowling to you, though!"
WARNE'S GREATEST SOUTH AFRICA TEST XI (since 1990)
Graeme Smith, Gary Kirsten, Jacques Kallis, AB De Villiers, Hansie Cronje (c), Jonty Rhodes, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Pat Symcox, Dale Steyn, Alan Donald.
After a lot of you have asked for the best teams I've played against, I've decided to go through each country. Will...
Posted by Official Shane Warne on Saturday, 19 September 2015