Steve Waugh responds to Warne's selfish remark

Former Australian skipper Steve Waugh has responded firmly and hit back at his former teammate Shane Warne’s remarks about him being selfish. Earlier this week, Warne called Waugh “the most selfish cricketer I’ve played with”, still holding a grudge after he was axed for the final Test on a tour of the West Indies 17 years ago, a game Australia won.

Steve Waugh refuted the claim saying he was doing his job as captain when he dropped the leg-spinner in 1999. It sparked a backlash against Warne on social media with Waugh issuing a short statement the following day that said: “I’m not justifying his comments with an answer.”

But he opened up on Friday, explaining the decision to drop Warne was tough but part of his job as Australian captain. “To be fair, not only Shane, any player I had to tell was dropped wasn’t easy,” he told Triple M commercial radio.

“It wasn’t easy telling Adam Dale he was dropped for a Test match or Greg Blewett. There were a number of players I had to tell they weren’t playing, Andy Bichel.

“As a captain that is the hardest thing to do. But it’s also why you’re captain, because people expect you to make the tough decisions for the benefit of the team.

Warne, speaking on an episode of reality TV show “I’m a Celebrity. Get Me Out of Here”, on which he is a contestant, said he was “really disappointed” at the decision to drop him and he felt like Waugh was making him “a scapegoat”.

“I don’t like Steve Waugh for a lot of other reasons, but that was the reason,” he said on why they fell out.

Waugh, who played 168 Tests, 57 as captain, said a key lesson he learned as captain was to take risks and follow his gut feeling.

“I guess the main thing as a captain and leader, as long as people respect your decision that is all you can ask,” he said.

“You have got to take a bit of a risk sometimes. It’s not always the obvious thing to do.

This is not the first controversy Warne has been involved in – 7 Infamous incidents when cricketers were banned for doping