Clarke still believes Howard should be the high performance chief

Australia captain Michael Clarke has expressed interest in former leg-spinner Shane Warne’s proposition of a new ‘dream team’ coaching line-up, which includes people such as former New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming taking on the role of head coach and ex-Australian player Ian Chappell being the mentor of the national team.

However, while Warne believes high performance chief Pat Howard should be replaced by former Australia batsman Mark Taylor, Clarke has backed Howard and believes he has done an excellent job.

While Clarke is usually not one to voice his opinions over matters as delicate as this, he noted that every person was entitled to the right to speak their mind.

“Warnie and I are great friends and we always will be,” Clarke said. “Everybody’s entitled to their opinion, and he’s certainly earned the right to voice his opinion on Australian cricket. I speak to Warnie often about things I can do personally to improve my game. Not only has he been a great friend, but he’s a mentor to me as well.

“Pat Howard has been doing a fantastic job. A lot of people will take a lot of notice of what Warnie has to say. But people have jobs and are trying to do that job to the best of their ability. And that’s all we can do. I’m a part of that as well. The people who make the decisions on who gets employed, they’ll definitely take notice. They’ll read what Warnie had to say. And I’m sure they’ll do whatever they have to do.”

Warne also noted that national selector John Inverarity should be replaced by Rod Marsh and when asked about his opinion on the matter, Inverarity refused to comment, but like Clarke, he stated that everyone had the right to voice their own opinions.

Meanwhile, national coach Mickey Arthur, who Warne believes should be replaced by Fleming, was took a more aggressive approach and went as far as saying that Warne was “living in a dream world”.

“He’s living in a dream world to be honest,” Arthur told 6PR Radio. “It’s just not possible [to always pick your best team] with the amount of time the players have at their disposal. He’s living in a dream world and clearly he’s not up with the times.

“We don’t sit there and rotate players and think, ‘he is going to play here and he is going to play here and there’. What we do, is we manage our players. So it’s about player management. If there is a player who is not 100 percent fit, we don’t take the risk with him. We want guys that are going out on the field 100 percent fine and ready to go all of the time.”

Australia pace bowler Peter Siddle was also on hand to lend his views and said that people should not pay much attention to what Warne believes since he “likes the limelight”.

“That’s just Warnie being Warnie,” Siddle added. “Warnie has done that when he played. He just likes the limelight.”