England 1 – Australia 0: Fans offer Shane Warne a million dollars to play in Ashes
With the Australian cricket team going one-down in the Ashes Test series, desperate cricket enthusiasts across Australia have launched a campaign to bring legendary Aussie leg-spinner out of retirement in order to save his team
from complete failure. The campaign has now reached new heights with one group of Warne fans offering to pay the former Test cricketer a million Australian dollars if he agrees to rejoin the Australian team for the remainder of the Ashes Test series.
Australia’s performance in the Ashes so far has been shockingly poor, and fans seem to be willing to resort to desperate measures to salvage the situation. A website launched by a group of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Queensland-c834 businessmen in the wake of
Aussies’ recent Test defeat, BringBackWarne.com, is attempting to raise one million Australian dollars in an effort to convince 41-year-old Warne to return to the Australian team. The website has received a lot of traffic since its launch, but has only managed
to raise approximately $4,000 so far.
"We have only raised about $4,000 at this stage, however, it has certainly initiated a considerable amount of debate,” said Ross Heywood, who launched the campaign. “Will we achieve our goal of Warne playing? I think if people
get behind the concept and contribute funds we have a better chance.”
Meanwhile, Warne has not commented in detail about the campaign or whether he has any intentions of returning to the Australian team.
“There has been a bit written in Australia and people have been asking me about making a comeback,” wrote Warne in the Daily Telegraph. “All I can say is that it is very flattering to hear those words.”
England team director Andy Flower is sceptical about the chances of Warne’s return. The Daily Mail reported Flower as saying, “I would think that’s a joke. Shane has retired from international cricket. I have heard how much he
earns and I would have thought they would have to make a bigger contribution that that.”
The campaign received a shot of hope today when Warne’s friend and former Australia teammate Damien Martyn tweeted that Cricket http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 and Channel 9, the Australian broadcaster Warne works for as a commentator, had held talks
concerning Warne’s potential availability for the Ashes.
However, Cricket Australia has denied making any contact with either Warne or Channel 9.
Not everyone finds the idea of Warne’s comeback such an attractive prospect. "The feedback we've had has been varied,” admitted Heywood. “Many love the idea of seeing him play again, some have suggested it would be the wrong move
for Australian cricket. We are eager to see how things evolve over the next few days."
Warne announced his retirement from Test cricket back in 2006. He has, however, been playing for the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rajasthan-c837 Royals during the last three seasons of the Indian Premier League.
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