Melbourne: More than the million dollars, it is Australia's captaincy which can pull spin legend Shane Warne out of retirement to rescue the team's floundering Ashes campaign, claims cricketer-turned-commentator Dean Jones.
The 41-year-old Warne has been offered a million dollars to come out of retirement by a group of businessmen in Melbourne which has created a media frenzy around his possible return after Australia lost the second Ashes Test to be 0-1 down in the five-match series.
The flamboyant leg-spinner has chosen to remain mum on the issue but Jones said Warne would definitely consider a comeback if he is handed the captaincy for the next two years.
"Warnie, without doubt, no joke, could actually come back," Jones told '3AW' -- a radio station in Melbourne.
"He's the Rolls-Royce. He can do anything he really wants in that regard. He just has to get himself fit. But I'll say this, categorically, because I want everyone to understand it, if Cricket Australia walked up to Shane Warne and said 'Would you come out of retirement and we'll give you the captaincy for two years?', I know for a fact he would take it. He would play," he added.
Jones said all the talk about Warne being unprepared for the grind after three years of retirement means nothing as the legendary spinner remains a magician with the ball.
"With bells on, he'd be running out of his house right now putting on his cricket shoes and putting on the runners to get himself fit," Jones said of the bowler who grabbed 708 Test wickets during his 15-year career.
"He makes out that it's really, really difficult to bowl leg-spin and do all that type of stuff.
"But really, he just walks in off three feet and bowls the ball. So it's not too hard. Let me tell you, he's the Rolls- Royce. He can do anything he really wants in that regard. He just has to get himself fit," he added. PTI
