Today Shane Warne, the world's most successful leg-spinner in the history of the game, and a champion all-round bloke turned 30 years old. While roses from his wife Simone would have helped cheer him up, the team felt it was important to give him some sort of appropriate celebration for the big day.

After a tough training session in the morning, where it felt like we were practising in a sauna rather than in the middle of a lush Colombo cricket field we met in the hotel bar to quench our desert walker thirsts. From the bar it was off to 'Warney's' favourite Italian restaurant for dinner, a birthday cake and plenty of happy revelry. While he wasn't too keen to admit his age we all had a good time helping our ageing vice-captain celebrate the big day.

Unfortunately Jason Gillespie and 'Tugga' were notable absentees from the night, but I am happy to report that our skipper looks to be recovering well from his ugly collision. A plastic surgeon from Sydney, who is in Colombo for a holiday, visited 'Tugga' at the hotel this afternoon. He seemed to be positive with his assessment of the operation on Stephen, feeling that an excellent job had been done in straightening out our captain's nose. While it looked a few days ago that 'Tugg' may end up looking like an unsuccessful boxer, it now seems the future looks considerably brighter thanks to the specialist treatment he received here at the Colombo hospital.

A future in the movies may still be on the cards yet?

As for 'Dizzy', he is putting on a brave face, but as you can imagine he is not only hurting on the outside. He is a devastated young man who may be out of action for some time. Knowing him though you just never know when we will all have the pleasure of watching his grace as he cruises into the crease and delivers a thunderbolt at some nervous batsman. He will be missed, not only for his contribution to this tour, but also for his sheer entertainment value with a new cricket ball in his hand.

From Colombo, wishing Warney a happy birthday, JL