John Crawley set off for Australia, insisting: "I'm not scared of Shane Warne's 'Slider'."

Hampshire captain Warne revealed that he has invented a new delivery called the slider, which is currently wreaking havoc in Sharjah, after Australia beat Pakistan inside two days last week.

Unlike the flipper, the quicker ball that is disguised as long hop but instead scuttles straight on, the slider turns slightly and is not as fast.

But Crawley said: "Shane always seems to invent a new ball for when England go over! He's very capable of what he's done against Pakistan.

"We've all seen what he's done but it's up to England not to let him dictate the game like he has done in the last couple of Tests against Pakistan.

"Reading Shane and playing him are two completely different things but I think his variations remain pretty similar all the way through.

"They're good variations in the leg spinner and the flipper and he's hard work but that's what challenges are all about."

Crawley first came across Warne at Old Trafford in 1993, when he was a 21-year-old rookie in the Lancashire side and Hampshire's captain was midway through his first Ashes series.

He scored a match winning 109 in the second innings a month after Warne produced his 'ball of the century' to dismiss Mike Gatting on the same ground.

It helped Lancashire inflict a first defeat of the tour on the Aussies. "I played pretty well against him then," remembered Crawley. "Since then I've kept him bay on occasions and scored reasonably well but he's got me out plenty of times, which is always going to be the case with a world class bowler.

"I know him reasonably well. He's a good guy, very competitive and very good at what he does. It's brilliant news that he's coming back to Hampshire, especially as he will be captain.

"The last time I saw Shane was at a Shaun Udal benefit dinner. Hopefully I'll catch up with him over there and see what he's planning for next year.

"From what I understand he's a pretty inspirational leader. He's certainly an inspirational character and it's good for this club that he'll be captaining us.

"That will take a lot of the weight off the Judge, who will hopefully play really well in his testimonial season."

SEE TODAY'S DAILY ECHO TO READ SIMON WALTER'S INTERVIEW WITH JOHN CRAWLEY AHEAD OF THE ASHES TOUR.