Be careful what you wish for, Shane Warne.
After demanding more aggression from a wilting Australian team, Warne looks set to get just that from coach Darren Lehmann after calling fatigued speedster Mitchell Starc "soft".
Warne applied the blowtorch to the fading Australian attack on day one of the second Test against India at a scorching Gabba.
But he really turned up the heat on the erratic Starc as Australia's bowling stocks at one stage became a case of last man standing.
"He has to change his body language, it needs to be stronger - he looks a bit soft," Warne said on Channel Nine.
"He needs to puff his chest out a bit, look harder."
And Lehmann looks set to provide Warne just that after claiming he would take the issue up with his former teammate upon hearing the comments.
"Soft? He used those words?," Lehmann said after India punished Australia's depleted attack to be 4-311 at stumps on day one.
"That's very harsh.
"At the end of the day...on a hot day it is hard work for a fast bowler on a good Gabba deck.
"I will take it up with Shane myself."
Earlier Starc's partner, Australian women's cricketer Alyssa Healy, leapt to the left arm speedster's defence.
"Any danger of something positive," the niece of Warne's Channel Nine commentating teammate and ex-Test keeper Ian Healy tweeted.
Starc later wilted in the sweltering Gabba heat with temperatures pushing 35 degrees in the shade.
He left to receive treatment and later returned complaining of a sore back and ribs as Australian staff worked overtime to keep their attack in one piece.
Allrounder Mitch Marsh (hamstring) broke down, debutant Josh Hazlewood succumbed to cramps and Mitchell Johnson (finger) did not appear 100 per cent.
Still, Warne said Starc's wayward spells showed just how much Australia needed another on their injury list, veteran quick Ryan Harris.
The 35-year-old Harris missed the second Test due to a quad strain.
"You take people for granted but you realise just how good he is when he is not there," Warne said of Harris.
"Very rarely is he not all over you.
"When you are bowling erratically the batsmen can just let them go.
"But when a bowler is at you all the time it tests technique."
Australian physio Alex Kountouris said Harris was a chance of Boxing Day third Test action in Melbourne.
"It's touch and go," he said.
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