Jaipur's effort to end Smith-Warne cold war

MELBOURNE: South Africa captain Graeme Smith and Australian spin wizard Shane Warne might not see eye to eye, but Indian Premier League's Jaipur franchise has bought the duo in Wednesday's auction. Now it is making sure that their relationship heals.

The tussle between Warne and Smith boiled over in the Melbourne Boxing Day Test two years ago when South African fielders standing around the bat antagonised Warne to the point that umpire Steve Bucknor had to step in.

Now, Smith has already begun the healing process by claiming he was looking forward to sharing the dressing room with Warne during the Twenty20 extravaganza.

"It will be a unique challenge as we have been competitive against each other in the past and now we will be team-mates," Smith told 'The Australian' newspaper.

Smith and Warne had a history of antagonising each other before the Australian retired from all forms of the game last year, except county cricket.

The deep division started when Smith took the world champions head on for their constant abusive sledging during his debut series in 2002.

Smith and Warne traded insults during South Africa's tour of Australia to the point where Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive James Sutherland forced Warne to change his newspaper column because it was abusive towards Smith.