Bad luck comes in threes ...

Shane Warne will certainly be believing that bad luck comes in threes. His beloved Australian cricket team seems almost certain to lose a home series to England for the first time in since 1986/7, Liz Hurley gave him the flick when she found he was a serial philanderer, and now, the unkindest cut of all - the Herald reports:

Australia's Nine Network says the Australian cricket team's poor performance in the Ashes Test is to blame for the final episode of Shane Warne's chat show being dumped from the schedule.

The fifth and final episode of the cricket-themed variety show Warnie - which screens in New Zealand on Prime - was due to air in Australia on Thursday night, but Nine has shelved plans for the episode, saying the decision was largely based on the fact the Ashes series had been largely wrapped up by the end of the Melbourne Test last week.

"The reality is that the series wrapped up after the Melbourne Test and so there was no need for a show on January 6," a spokeswoman for the network told AAP.

There were no major pre-recorded interviews lost, as the final show was always intended to be more of a live TV event, she added.

Warnie, which was broadcast corresponding to each leg of the Test, has struggled to find viewers since it first aired on November 24, despite attracting big names like James Packer, Sir Michael "Parky" Parkinson, Coldplay's Chris Martin, Sting and Dannii Minogue to the couch.

You have to admire Nine's spin on the decision to axe Warnie, but the plain fact of the matter is that no-one was watching - read on:

The first show attracted a mediocre 854,000 viewers, but by the next week viewers were down to under 500,000.

Ironically, we reckon that Warne is one of the better recent ex-players to migrate to the Channel Nine commentary box. He obviously has a passion for and a knowledge of the game of cricket, and he's not the unashamed cheerleader that his colleagues Ian Healy and Michael Slater have become. Yesterday afternoon, as England's lead stretched towards and beyond 200, "Heals" and "Slats" were still insisting the Australia could win the match and level the series. Warne's comments have been far more pragmatic.

England will bat on this morning and shut the Australians out completely. A rare Ashes series win is there for the taking, however much it pains Shane Warne. Doubtless the next chapter in his soap-opera life will soon be played out; probably by text message!