Shane Warne has confirmed he will captain Hampshire until he stops enjoying it.

The Hampshire skipper returns to action on Sunday, when Warwickshire visit the Rose Bowl in the Championship, after enjoying a two-week break during the Twenty20 Cup.

Warne, now reunited with his wife Simone, is so happy with life on the south coast that he is considering extending his contract, which is due to expire next year.

There is even the chance he could play for Hampshire until the 2009 season, at the end of which he will have just turned 40.

He said: "The children are going to school here and absolutely loving it. I've been living in England for the last four years and I've enjoyed it.

"Everything is so easy; it's really easy to fly from Southampton airport to Spain and Nice.

"It's different to the Australian way of life, where you come home from school and go down the beach. I don't think it'll be permanent here, but in the short term I'm happy.

"At the moment I'm enjoying it, but if that stops, becomes hard work, then I'll stop."

Warne's children - Brooke, Summer and Jackson - go to a prep school in Hampshire.

Their happiness, and the relaxed pace of life on the south coast, means their dad will stay on at the Rose Bowl for a fifth season as the county's captain next year - at least.

"I'm probably more respected here than in Australia, maybe because I'm one of their own," explained Warne.

"In Australia they are more moralistic and judgmental about my personal life.

"They are used to it here and they like watching and respect people who have been successful in any sport.

"That's a good thing about English people, whereas in Australia sometimes certain people start to resent that you've been successful."

Warne admits the reality of his retirement from Test cricket will sink in when the Australian summer begins at the end of the county season.

But there is no chance of TV commentary taking over just yet.

"At the moment I'm just enjoying a different phase of my life," he said.

"If I wanted to be at Brisbane for the first Test commentating, then I might as well have kept playing, the reason I retired from Test cricket was to have more time to myself, to do children's stuff."

Warne has taken 259 Championship wickets at 24.97 for Hampshire, including 33 at 26.84 this year.