The second highest wicket taker in the history of test cricket, after Sri Lankas Muttiah Muralitharan, told a Melbourne radio station over the weekend that he did not need a cap to remind him what an honour it was to play for his country, accusing some cricket followers in Australia of suffering from verbal diarrhoea when it came to discussing it.
Warne cited an incident in 2001 when, during an Ashes tour of the UK, the Australian team were invited to attend the Wimbledon final, and were requested by officials from Cricket Australian to wear their green caps. Although the majority of the team complied, Warne refused, along with Mark Waugh, in an episode which he labelled embarrassing.
Earlier this year, Warne auctioned his own baggy green cap in order to raise funds for the victims of the Australian bush fire crisis. After a ferocious bidding war, the cap was eventually bought for over AUS $1 million (US $650,000) by a local bank. They plan to send it on a tour of the country before it will find its permanent home in the Bradman Museum in Bowral, New South Wales, although their plans have been delayed by the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
Not that Warne appears at all sentimental about it.
The 50 year old, who took more than 700 test wickets during his career, said that he felt equally at home on the pitch wearing a white floppy sun hat, and did not need a piece of headgear made of a piece of fabric to remind himself and prove to others that he was a proud Australia.
Never a man to shy away from a controversy, Warne will be bracing himself for the inevitable backlash to come after his latest comments.