Warne uses the umpiring excuse

Shane Warne has publicly held the umpiring in the Ashes responsible for Simon Katich being axed from Australia's side for the second test against West Indies beginning later this week at Hobart. I await the ICC's move to rebuke and penalize him, for its own 'Code of Conduct' document categorizes "Public criticism of, or inappropriate comment on a match related incident or match official" as a Level 1 offence. Bob Woolmer's criticism of umpiring during Pakistan's tour to Australia earlier this year got him into trouble with the ICC.

In addition to defending Katich, he also mentioned Damien Martyn as an umpiring victim. This is what Warne said:

He would have liked to have performed better but there's been a few things — he got an absolute shocking decision at Trent Bridge when he was on 50 or 60. It pitched miles outside leg stump, and he wasn't the only one. Damien Martyn had a couple of those decisions as well."

In other news from 'Down Under', Steve Waugh has predicted that Michael Clarke, who has dropped from being the new hope of Aussie cricket just a year ago in a manner similar to his batting average's descent, will definitely be dropped at some point of time but pointed out that it would be a good opportunity for him to work out his faults and become a better player.

Jimmy Maher reckons that Andrew Symonds will average 50 in test cricket. In just the same manner as that other Queensland mate of yours, Stuart Law, eh Jimmy? Has he been drinking the same stuff Symonds was on the midnight of 18th June?

Meanwhile, Peter Roebuck writes that Gibbs and Boje should not be picked as part of South Africa's tour to Australia beginning next month, since they opted out of the series in India, refusing to co-operate with the match-fixing scandal investigation.