Shane Warne slams Ricky Ponting and John Buchanan for 2005 Ashes series loss

It’s more than 13 years since that historic Ashes in England which the Three Lions had won 2-1, something they did for the first time since the mid-1980s. The ace Australian spinner Shane Warne, who had picked 40 wickets in that series besides doing decently with the bat and was chosen the joint man of the series with Andrew Flintoff, has something to say over that series years later.

The 49-year-old revealed in his recently published autobiography ‘No Spin’ the turmoil the Australian team was going through in that series. The second highest wicket-taker in Tests took a strong dig in his book at the captain of the then Ricky Ponting and coach John Buchanan.

Australia had started well by thumping Michael Vaughan’s England by 239 runs in the first Test at Lord’s. But the hosts came back strongly to win the second Test at Edgbaston by just 2 runs to square the series and the win boosted their confidence which eventually saw them winning the five-match contest 2-1.

Buchanan questioned players’ desire to win

It was after the stunning loss at Edgbaston that Buchanan had questioned the players’ desire to win, something Warne claimed, and it led to a near mutiny.

“On the bus on the way back to the hotel after the game (Edgbaston Test), John Buchanan called a team meeting. I was like, ‘Oh no, what’s he going to say now?’,” Warne wrote in his book ‘No Spin’, according to Times Now. “We collected in the team room and he started with an obvious line, something like, ‘We didn’t play very well again this game.’ Yep, true, Buck. Then he said, ‘But why didn’t we play well?’ Maybe you tell us, Buck. So he did.”

Australia survived the next Test at Old Trafford narrowly, just about drawing it with just one wicket in hand. They lost the fourth at Trent Bridge by 3 wickets and could only manage a draw in the fifth and final one at The Oval to concede an Ashes loss after a long, long time.

“It was along the lines of ‘’I don’t think you blokes care enough and, playing like you are, I don’t think you’re worthy of wearing the baggy green cap. ‘I could sense the rage bubbling in the room and could feel it burning inside me, but I waited for the captain, anyone, to say something,” Warne wrote.

“Everyone sat there quietly, heads down, no-one willing to get involved. I thought, ‘To hell with this,’ stood up and said, ‘Buck, don’t you ever tell me I don’t care enough and that I’m not worthy of wearing the baggy green cap.”

The decision to bowl at Edgbaston “worst”

Warne also was brutal on Ponting, slamming the latter’s decision to bowl at the Edgbaston Test that Australia lost by a couple of runs. The spinner himself had excelled in that game by taking 10 wickets and scoring a crucial 42 in the second innings but he criticised the captain’s decision calling it “the worst decision made by a captain I played under”.

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