Tags: Cricket, Australia, Icc Odi Championship, Icc Test Championship
Shane Warne is more sentimental about representing Australia than he lets on, his former team-mate Jason Gillespie said.
In the wake of a recent Amazon documentary about the Australian cricket team, Warne hit out at the "verbal diarrhoea" from some of the country’s current and former players over the significance of the Baggy Green.
Warne pointed to an example of players wearing them when they went to watch tennis at Wimbledon, labelling it "embarrassing".
He auctioned off his Baggy Green to support the bushfire relief fund earlier this year and often preferred to wear white floppy headgear when he was playing.
Gillespie believes the hat has important significance to many players and believes it still means a lot to Warne, even if he has been "dismissive".
"If that's what Shane believes then... he's probably more sentimental about it as he probably lets on," Gillespie said to Stats Perform News.
"It did mean a lot to him. I think he was making a point and I think the point he was trying to make was that is it a piece of cloth at the end of the day."
Gillespie added: "What it symbolises and what is symbolises for me is the hard work, the sacrifice.
"The sacrifice not just for myself but I think of my parents, driving me around to cricket practice every week to play games on the weekends.
"I remember at Christmas time when Santa got me a new bat or a new ball and after opening presents I would hound my dad to go up to the nets before Christmas lunch.
"I'm thinking, 'The poor man, all he probably wanted to do was to have a Christmas drink and to settle down for an hour but he's with his 12 year-old son up at the nets on Christmas Day'.
"The pride in yourself for the hard work you put in and the reward - ever since I was six years of age, I wanted to play for Australia, it was just my whole being, my whole dream.
"Everything revolved around doing the best I could to play for Australia and that's what the cap symbolises. I look at that cap and I think, 'I earned that cap'.
"I know that Shane has maybe been a little bit dismissive about it but it still means a lot to him. He thinks of all the hard work that he had to put in.
"But everyone is allowed to feel slightly differently about it and what it means to them. It doesn't mean that Shane cared any less, it was just his way.
"He used to wear a more floppy hat and for more practical reasons. He didn't want to get sunburn from the harsh sun.
"It meant a lot, it still means a lot to all of us. I'm fortunate to have my Baggy Green and it's tucked away safely so it's all good."
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