Shane Warne turned up at Addington yesterday and did what he does best other than bowling - he talked.
The great leg-spinner was at the New Zealand Trotting Cup meeting yesterday as a guest of honour at the race that stops Canterbury, and entertained the throng of assembled media by answering questions covering cricket, poker, household policies on mobile phone use and selfies.
Yes, selfies.
But it was the upcoming Cricket World Cup which is capturing Warne's attention, and - appropriately enough for a press conference at a race meeting - Warne is tipping New Zealand as a ''dark horse''.
''I think Australia and South Africa are the favourites to win the World Cup as one and two in the world,'' Warne said.
''But ... we were speaking yesterday and launched the Channel 9 summer yesterday and we were talking about it.
''Bill Lawry said to me 'I think New Zealand are the dark horses to win it' and as soon as he said that we thought, Geez.
"We look at the New Zealand team and they've got a good young side. They've got dangerous players, they've got some match-winners.''
Warne is not completely sold on playing at home being an advantage, citing the mixed records of hosts in the past, but expects both New Zealand and Australia to thrive this season.
''As a rule, most of the home countries haven't done that well in the World Cups,'' he said.
''New Zealand like being the dark horses - they don't like to be up there as favourites. They like to be in the background and sneak up on people.
''They've performed very well in the World Cup - they've almost always generally made the finals [playoffs]. They're yet to make the final or win the final but I think they've got a really good chance.''
Warne was never afraid of a word after sliding a leg-spinning delivery past the outside edge of a bat, but admits he sometimes has to be careful of indulging in some sledging at the poker table after more than seven years playing the casino game professionally.
''When you play in America it can be pretty good because there's a fair bit of anonymity in America - except if you play someone who knows cricket.''
''And because I've got ShaneWarne.com on my shirt, they Google me and say `You used to date Liz Hurley' and all that sort of stuff.
''Or they Google you and try and sledge you about other things. But I sort of hold my own.''
The 45-year-old Victorian is spending the rest of the week playing golf with friends in Queenstown.
