England don't fear the Aussies anymore: Shane Warne

Legendary former Australian spinner Shane Warne feels that it’s advantage England, going into the 1st Test in Brisbane. The Australian selectors dropped some major bombs in the face of Tim Paine, Cameron Bancroft and Shaun Marsh, who have replaced  Matthew Wade, Matt Renshaw and Glenn Maxwell respectively. The move drew a lot of criticism ahead of the important series.

Warne feels that despite the unavailability of all-rounder Ben Stokes and setback in the face of Steve Finn’s injury, England are going pretty steady in their preparations. The spin wizard also feels that the major difference is the change in the attitude of  Joe Root’s men. He feels it is totally different from the ones he has played in (1993 to 2007). He says that England do not fear the Aussies anymore.

Australia looks confused,” Warne said at the Nine Network’s season launch in Sydney. “They’re picking wicketkeepers [Paine] that aren’t even keeping for their state. To me, I think England are in a better situation going into that first Test than Australia are.” “They don’t fear Australia anymore,” he said. “[They] haven’t for a long time and hence that’s why they can beat Australia.”

Taylor in support of the selectors

Former great Mark Taylor has backed the selectors’ decision and said that the wise men were not looking for blokes who would take the series as a platform to find their form instead they were looking for in-form cricketers. Matt Renshaw’s last six outings in the Sheffield Sheild rounds hasn’t helped him much, as he managed to score just 70 runs in six innings.

“They have come out and said that an Ashes series isn’t the place to find form and that’s probably a fair point,” he said. “They have been saying for a while that they wanted to pick guys who were in form at the start of the series and Cameron Bancroft has been.” Taylor told ESPNcricinfo.