The BBL kicks off on December 7 with the Melbourne Stars playing their city rivals, the Melbourne Renegades. -Photo by AFP

Australia’s spin legend Shane Warne claimed he was still good enough to “rip ‘em and be effective” in Test cricket, were it not for his family commitments.

“If you asked me, ‘Can I come out and play a Test match tomorrow?’ I’d have absolutely no doubt I could rip them out of the rough and turn them square, all that sort of stuff,” Warne, who will captain the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League, told The Age.

“But playing international cricket is a huge commitment.”

“Playing Twenty20 is different. You’re only bowling 24 deliveries, sometimes you might only bowl eight, sometimes 12. It depends on what the game needs. You don’t have to be prepared as you do for a Test match, to bowl 60 overs in a match. That would test my fitness if I ever had to do that again, which is highly unlikely,” he added.

The 43-year-old declared his practice regimen was up and that he had been bowling better than he had at any time since his Test retirement almost six years ago.

“People say ‘You’re bowling that well, why don’t you play for Australia again?’. I say I if I’ve got a Test match in two weeks’ time I have absolutely no doubt that I could come out and rip ‘em and be effective and do pretty well, but that’s a commitment to Australian cricket again. That’s a different thing to being committed to the Melbourne Stars. I’m committed to that now and I’m trying to do the best job I can.”

Warne’s BBL season for the Stars begins on Friday night at Etihad Stadium against Melbourne Renegades, who boast of another spin wizard in Muttiah Muralitharan.