Warne: Smith made a fool of himself

'If Smith wants to keep making those statements and making a fool of himself...then that's fine' © Getty Images

With four days to go until the first Test between South Africa and Australia, Shane Warne has reignited the war of words between the two sides. After South Africa's tempestuous tour of Australia, in which they lost the Test and one-day series emphatically, Warne said Smith "made a fool of himself".

"I'm not sure how I'll handle Graeme Smith yet," Warne said yesterday in Johannesburg. "It was the worst performance by a South African team in Australia. They lost the Test series 2-0 and it was probably only a bit of luck, and a good innings from Jacques Rudolph, that stopped them losing 3-0.

"They didn't make the finals of the one-dayers. And all Graeme Smith did was say some ridiculous stuff."

Smith had said in Australia that Warne was frustrated at not being the Australia captain, adding that "he is a real old showman who wants the attention to be focused on him all the time".

"He [Smith] said it was to take the pressure off his team but, well, he didn't make 50 in the series. He should have worried about himself. So if he wants to keep making those statements and making a fool of himself like he did in Australia, then that's fine," Warne said.

"I don't have any big statements to make. We'll just go out and keep performing like we have. They've never beaten us - that's just fact. And I hope we can continue that."

South Africa and Australia face each other today in the fifth and final one-dayer, after Australia leveled the series 2-2 on Friday.