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Change Your Life! |
Gilchrist replaces Warne as Australian vice-captain |
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August 5, 2000
MELBOURNE (AP) - Shane Warne has been stripped of the Australian vice-captaincy and has been replaced by wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist. The Australian Cricket Board met Friday in Melbourne to consider Warne's future as the No. 2 behind Steve Waugh in the Australian team after the champion leg-spin bowler was involved in another off-field controversies. Warne, who is married with children, admitted leaving "dirty" messages on the telephone answering machine of a British nurse he'd met in a Leicester nightclub after the incident was exposed in a British tabloid newspaper last month. At the time, Warne said he still had aspirations of captaining the world champion Australians and hoped the latest off-field drama would not interfere with his dream. However, the ACB said the latest indiscretion was the last straw for Warne. Warne and batsman Mark Waugh were fined by the ACB in 1995 for accepting money from an Indian bookmaker to provide pitch and weather information during a tour of Sri Lanka in 1994. The leg-spinner also came under fire last season for snatching a camera from a young New Zealand fan who took a photograph of him smoking a cigarette in the player's enclosure during a tour match. Warne had earlier been under contract with a commercial sponsor to quit smoking. The ACB appointed Gilchrist after interviewing both the West Australian and Tasmanian batsman Ricky Ponting. ACB chairman Denis Rogers said Warne's off-field behavior had cost him the job. "We have counseled him over the years and he's been very honest with us but it's got to the point where we think it's time for a change," Rogers said. "We owe Shane Warne a lot and no one should ever forget this is the man who changed not only Australian cricket but world cricket," he added. Warne last season topped Dennis Lillee as the No. 1 Australian test bowler of all time. The 28-year-old Gilchrist said he hoped his appointment would not sour his friendship with Warne, who is playing with Hampshire in the English county competition during the Australian close-season. The Australian selection panel had been in favor of retaining Warne as vice-captain but the ACB had wider issues to consider, Rogers said. |