We played more cricket than current generation and found time to improve: Shane Warne

There is a feeling in cricketing fraternity that a choc-a-bloc international calender comprising three formats leave youngsters with very little time to work on their game.

However the legendary Shane Warne believes otherwise at a time when workload management has been the buzzword in many countries including India.

"We played more cricket than this generation. We played more days of cricket, even though it was first-class cricket. What's the complication nowadays is the travel and different formats that they have to adjust to. But in terms of pure balls bowled and days played, yesteryears' players used to play more," Warne told PTI during an exclusive interview.

Warne then cited an example of his playing days for Australia, Victoria and Hampshire.

"There used to be a Sheffield Shield game for Victoria, then a Test match and we would again go back and play for Victoria. Now they have breaks, they have got Big Bash, so that's a fact," said Warne, who bowled an astounding 92,797 legal deliveries in senior level cricket and took 1862 wickets.

He refuses to buy the argument that players nowadays don't find time to work on their game.

"If you want to improve, you find the time, no matter how busy you are. If it's important to you then you will find time. If it's not important to you and you think you are going to be okay, you won't find time," he put it bluntly adding: "It won't happen overnight. It takes time. Hours of hardwork. There is no magic."
"You would like to bounce ideas off them in the change room, deep breath the game. You can always talk to some of the opposition players when you go to their dressing room. There are different ways to get knowledge and I liked it that way as it suited me."
"Matthew Hayden became a terrific player of spin in the end. At the start, he was hopeless. Myself and Tim May will tell him "Ok, Haydos get in there and we will bowl to you and he got better and better and better."
"I think there's a lot about asking questions and too many people listen not to what the person is saying but listen to give a response. They listen to someone saying so that they can answer them. What you need to do is to listen to what someone is saying and hear them and let them talk."
"I have always believed in international cricket, you don't need a coach. But domestic cricket, first-class cricket, you need coaches as you have so many young players that need help."
"If you have too many coaches, in order to justify their positions, they confuse a player. Because so many different coaches give them different messages. They think differently. You can't confuse a player too much. Stick to the absolute basics of the game, have some fun and you will generally do well."