Shane Warne: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Shane Warne is a hard man to please.

Shane Warne (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What he said:

“He has to change his body language, it needs to be stronger – he looks a bit soft. He needs to puff his chest out a bit, look harder.”

Shane Warne stirred up a storm with his criticism of Mitchell Starc in the second Test at Brisbane against India.

The former Australian leg-spinner and all-time great was commentating for Nine Network.

Darren Lehmann was among those to react.

Lehmann said:

“Soft. He used those words? That’s very harsh…I will take it up with Shane myself.”

Starc’s girlfriend Australian women’s cricketer Alyssa Healy was quick to come to his defence on Twitter.

She said:

Any danger of something positive….

— Alyssa Healy (@ahealy77) December 17, 2014

Shane Warne, forced to back-pedal, responded on Twitter:

What rubbish reporting & sensationalism re my comments on Starc. I said he needs a better presence & stronger body language when bowling...

— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) December 17, 2014

And that it looks a bit soft & a bit easy after he bowled 3 overs, nothing to do with heat or anything else. Poor journalism, facts plse !

— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) December 17, 2014

Starc appeared to respond positively to the brouhaha scoring a fifty in Australia’s batting essay and cleaning out first innings centurion Murali Vijay for 27.

What Warne really meant:

“Fast bowlers are meant to intimidate the opposition, look them in the eye and stare them down. That’s the body language I’m referring to. I was able to do that and I was no pacer!”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Cricket used to be a gentleman’s game. What has the world come to?”