Warne Says England in ‘Shambles’

Australian spin legend Shane Warne has come down heavily on the current state of English Cricket, criticising both the players and the administration. Extremely blunt in his assessment, Warne said it would be a challenge for the team to be able to step up their game ahead of the New Zealand series starting today.

Warne also blasted the administration for its handling of the issue regarding Kevin Pietersen’s reinstatement into the team and also the sacking of (former) coach Peter Moores.

“It’s a bit of a shambles what’s going on with England at the moment, you’d have to say,” He told skysports.com.

“The way the Peter Moores sacking went, the KP issue; it’ll be interesting to see how the players respond, whether they can come out and play well and shift their focus back on to playing.”

He was, of course, referring to the storm that has been raging on in the English cricket circles over the last week, over the issue of the redrafting of Kevin Pietersen into the England side after he hit a triple hundred in the LV County Championship, England’s premier domestic competition.

He said it would be extremely hard for the team to concentrate with all the public mud-slinging going on around. England had to recently contend with a 1-1 draw against the West Indies where a lot of their flaws were exposed, with the only bright point being Jimmy Anderson‘s performance, who overtook Ian Botham’s 383-wicket tally to become England’s highest wicket taker in Test Matches.

“I’m sure they will but there’s so many issues going on at the moment it’ll be hard to see them coming out and playing well, especially against a very good New Zealand team.”

“You ask any ex-player, English player, Australian player, everybody says the same thing. It’s an absolute shambles and the quicker they get on with it the better for everyone but I think the whole handling of Peter Moores and KP has been pretty ordinary”, said the Aussie legend. Indeed, it will be a huge challenge for them to do well against the touring Kiwi’s, who have been playing a fiery brand of cricket in recent times.