Warne and Buchanan

A few days ago Shane Warne said Australian coach John Buchanan "lacked a little bit of common sense" and "overcomplicates things". Australian Cricket said those words were taken out of context. Today we find that while on the Australian team boot camp last week Shane Warne told Buchanan "I hate your guts and I want to go home. You're a d---head." I guess those words were taken out of context too.

Meanwhile, English cricket email The Spin takes this opportunity to put the boot into someone who has barely even made a squeak during this entire affair, the Australian captain:

We need, of course, to delve beneath the surface. Warne, probably the biggest box-office cricketer since Don Bradman, knows that he can say pretty well anything he likes and get away with it. But for Ricky Ponting, every public pronouncement by Warne that undermines that old chestnut team spirit is an irksome reminder of last summer, when Warne in effect captained Australia to defeat in the Ashes. Since the Australian media have questioned, as is their right, England's decision to award the captaincy this winter to Andrew Flintoff, it seems only fair to ask in return: who is the most powerful voice in Australian cricket? And the answer is still the same. It most certainly isn't Ponting.