Former Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne is one of the most celebrated sportsmen in the country’s history but unlike most other Australian cricketers, he doesn’t think that wearing the Baggy Green is important to show your love for Australian cricket.
“I always believed that you didn’t have to wear the Baggy Green cap to say how much you loved playing cricket for Australia,” the iconic spinner said on ‘Triple M’, a Melbourne-based radio station.
“I loved playing cricket for Australia, and I didn’t need to wear that cap or have that verbal diarrhea about it, I just enjoyed playing cricket for Australia,” Warne added.
“I always felt that if I wore a white floppy hat or wore my Baggy Green cap it meant exactly the same, I was playing for Australia. There was too much verbal diarrhea about the baggy cap it was a bit too over the top for me. The stuff that they go on about, the fabric of the Baggy Green and all this stuff that they go on about, I don’t sign in and buy into that.”
Warne had auctioned off his Baggy Green recently for 1 million dollars in order to raise funds for the damages caused in Australia due to Bush fires in January. However, he doesn’t miss his cap at all as he doesn’t feel about it the same way as many of his colleagues do.
In fact, the legendary leg-spinner and former skipper Steve Waugh had clashing views in regards to the value of the Baggy Green. In a conversation with Michael Vaughan back in 2018, Warne had revealed how he got annoyed when Waugh had asked the entire team to wear the Cap during their trip to a Wimbledon match.
“The ultimate embarrassment was when Steve Waugh – we went to see Pat Rafter play at Wimbledon and he wanted the whole team to wear it. I looked at Mark Waugh and he said ‘I’m not wearing it’ and I said ‘I’m not wearing it either. So the guys that idolized Steve Waugh – Langer, Hayden, Gilchrist those types of guys, all wear the Baggy Green to Wimbledon. It makes me want to puke to think about that, these guys, grown men, wore baggy green caps to Wimbledon. So I refused. Looking back at some of those photos, It was embarrassing to watch.” Shane Warne told Michael Vaughan on BBC Radio in 2018.