Melbourne: Australia spin great Shane Warne feels Ricky Ponting's men should inculcate the killer instinct and take the game "by the scruff of the neck" to overcome the transitional problems they are struggling with."The team needs time to jell together, so that they can win the flag. I just think these players need to stand up. They're playing okay, and they're all doing alright, but they need to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and take it to the next level,” Warne was quoted by the Herald Sun.The retirements of Warne himself, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer over the last three years has seen Australia's dominance in world cricket fading away.
But the former leg-spinner said even though Australia is going through a transitional phase, it remained one of the best three Test sides in the world."I think South Africa, India and Australia are probably the three main Test teams in the world, although you could probably throw Sri Lanka in there as well."Warne said the strong performances of some young players in domestic circuit were a positive sign for Australian cricket."When you've got players all challenging for spots, that's when you create a team that actually improves and moves forward," he said.
The 40-year-old said for him individual improvement is the yardstick for judging the performance of the Test side."The key question for me is whether the Australian players are improving, whether they're gaining experience and learning from their mistakes and getting better. That's the gauge," Warne said."The one thing that's been hard for Ricky is the revolving door with the team. It's hard when you're losing players to injury or being overworked, and you're getting new players coming in all the time," Warne said, sympathising with skipper Ponting.
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