Warne's back in business

'Of all the people I have met in cricket, Warne's probably in the top half dozen of the mentally tough,' said the 59-year-old. 'Once he puts on the spikes, walks on the ground and gets over the nervousness he'll really move on down the road.'

Following Australia's dip in form in the recent series against India, supporters would gladly welcome back the second-highest wicket-taker in Test history. Warne will play three games before the squad is named but Jenner says selectors should not put too much emphasis on his performances.

'Everybody's worried that he won't have match practice, but he has never needed that,' he said.

'He has hardly taken any wickets for St Kilda, his club team, and for a lot of years he never took any wickets for Victoria. Getting wickets in lesser games has never been his forte.

'Stuart MacGill is Australia's legspinner at the moment. But who is the No2 spinner? The selectors, I'm confident, will take MacGill and Warne. Shane doesn't believe he will get an automatic call-up, but if he bowls okay and is fit, they are not going to leave him back home. And neither would you.'

Chairman of selectors, Trevor Hohns, said the spinner is not an automatic selection. 'There are no guarantees we will pick him, but if he comes back and is playing well, it gives us another option,' he said.

The question of Warne's fitness - and weight - will be integral to his immediate future. Reports from Australia suggest that he has slimmed down to 85kg (13st 5lb) and it can be assumed that he has done it without slimming aids from his mother, the explanation he gave for the pill-popping that led to him being sent home from last year's World Cup.

Not surprisingly, Warne's lay-off has not been without its controversy. His attempts at playing charity matches were quickly thwarted by Cricket Australia. He was banned from training with the Victorian team, while his commentary work on television and radio were greeted with widespread protests. He was simply not allowed to pick up a cricket ball on any serious occasion.

Jenner, who played nine Tests for Australia in the 1970s and now coaches leg-spinners around the world, understands how frustrating it must have been for Warne. He served a two-year prison sentence, beginning in 1988, for embezzlement.

In his book TJ Over The Top, Jenner talks of a time, soon after he was out of prison, when he walked over to the commentary box with Ian Chappell to talk about Warne.

'I saw lots of familiar faces, including one guy I thought enough of years earlier to have given him one of my Australian baggy green caps. We made eye contact, only for him to immediately drop his eyes and look away. It was the type of moment I dreaded,' wrote Jenner.

While Warne is unlikely to suffer the same level of public opprobrium, anti-doping officials had called for him to be banned for the standard two years.

Jason Warne, Shane's brother and agent, said: 'It's all in the past. Right from the time that penalty began, we have been looking forward. Whether some people think it's too long or too short, there's no point worrying about it.'

Warne, 34, won't need reminding that comebacks often don't follow the fairytale scripts they're intended to.

He will know that his most productive years came between 1993-97, when he took 277 Test wickets at

25.63. Then, in the five years that followed a comeback after surgery, he scalped 214 wickets at 29.98.

Jenner believes the 'enforced rest', as he calls it, will benefit Warne and lengthen his career.

'One of the reasons he retired from one-day cricket was because he was tired and, if you take the tiredness out of the equation, you would have to think it will help him to play longer,' he said.

'Realistically, it was an opportunity for him to get a good rest and come back strong.'

Jason added: 'He is feeling as good as new. It is probably going to be easier coming back to his best after the ban than after the shoulder operation. The ball has been coming out as well as ever in practice but we don't know how good he is until he starts playing. As always, he will go out and do his best. Hopefully, that will be enough.'

The cricket world will be watching.