THE greatest leggie of world cricket, Shane Warne, has finally been trapped leg before by the Australian Cricket Board after being tested positive for use of banned drug, hours before commencement of the most prestigious tournament of the game, the World Cup. His innocence is claimed by some cricket legends and the ACB chief but the opinion is negated indirectly by senior Australian team members and some incidents of his misconduct in the past.
Looking at the details of the substance he used for ‘reducing weight’, a study says athletes use diuretics for a variety of reasons, the most common being weight maintenance.
However, athletes who use anabolic steroids frequently use diuretics to dilute the presence of the steroids in the urine.
Diuretics are chemical substances that help rid the body of excess fluids by forcing the kidneys to excrete urine more frequently and in greater amounts. Dieters use diuretics to assist in weight loss.
It is still not confirmed whether Warne used the diuretic tablet to reduce fluids in the body or to hide intake of anabolic steroids used for enhancing performance.
It may be recalled here that he had announced retirement from one-day cricket after the World Cup. The reason for the retirement has not been made public but it may have been dwindling energy resources.
Use of diuretics causes weight loss, fever, bed-wetting, frequent need or desire to urinate, dehydration, headaches, thirst, menstrual irregularities, non-coordination, nausea, kidney failure, change of appetite and gastrointestinal difficulties or disorders. Considering the risks of side-effects, one has to be brave for using the diuretics, but can be forced into it due to compelling circumstances and requirements for competition.
This was the first time that the International Cricket Council introduced the anti-doping policy, following unconfirmed reports of drug use by players for enhancing performance.
Shane Warne destroyed Pakistan’s batting in the 1999 World Cup final by taking four wickets and was declared man of the match. Nothing could be confirmed about genuineness of this performance at that time due to absence of anti-doping measures.
In a recent statement, Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the ICC said: “This is the first time an anti-doping policy will be in place for a senior ICC event and it is critical that all boards work with their players to implement the policy. The ICC has been liaising closely with the boards of the 14 competing nations to ensure they understand the requirements. We have been impressed with the responsible attitude that the boards have taken to this issue and the steps that they have taken to prepare and educate their players.”
Looking into the past of Shane Warne, otherwise one of the world’s most admired cricketers, he was disgracefully stripped of his vice-captaincy. His well-publicized indiscretions finally got the better of him.
In September 1994, during a tour of Sri Lanka, Warne and Mark Waugh were reportedly paid $5,000 and $6,000, respectively, by an Indian bookmaker for information on wicket and weather conditions. They were fined $8,000 and $10,000, respectively, over the incident by the ACB.
In 1997, Warne stormed out of a press conference held to unveil his Madame Tussaud’s wax likeness after a journalist cracked a joke on his weight. Two years later, we saw Warne accepting a $200,000 pay-out from nicotine chewing-gum manufacturer for a quit-smoking campaign, despite being photographed smoking only days before the deal was to be finalized. Later in the same year, he was admonished for having criticized Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga.
In February 2000, Warne was photographed smoking by a 15-year-old boy while on tour in New Zealand. He grabbed the youth’s bag and swore at him after the boy refused to hand over the film. And of course, only recently, Warne admitted to “dirty talk” over the phone with a 22-year-old woman while in England playing with county side Hampshire.
In his early career, Warne was kicked out of the Australian Academy and he carried the tag of a rogue for a long time to come.
Then he accused the Pakistan captain for offering bribe to lose a test match when the Australians were here last time. He teamed up with Mark Waugh once again in a bid to malign the image of Pakistani cricketers.
The Pakistan Cricket Board was obliged to conduct an inquiry through retired justice Fakhruddin Ebrahim, who cleared Salim Malik on grounds of lack of evidence as Warne and Waugh failed to appear before the inquiry committee to substantiate the charges.
Warne’s bowling colleague Glen McGrath believes he brought his potential cricketing downfall upon himself and should have known the risk of taking a pill containing unknown substances. He termed Warne’s acceptance of a pill naive, considering that the Australian team was well-informed about the use of drugs.
In McGrath’s opinion, the Australian players were well aware of the penalties for taking substances and knew that they should thoroughly check anything they took and the consequences of anything they consumed.
“We talk about drugs before the start of every season and a guy from the Australian Sports Drug Agency comes out and has a bit of a chat. So it is not like we are not well-informed,” remarked McGrath.
Unlike customary sympathy and support from cricket legends such as Brian Lara, Ravi Shastri, Shaun Pollock and Sunil Gavasker, Australian captain Ricky Ponting gave a wake-up call to all sportsmen saying: “Obviously Warne was very naive and he must have learned a hard lesson about not being careful about things you put in your mouth.”
Warne’s drug episode can easily be compared with that of Benjamin Sinclair Johnson of Canada, who set a world record in the 100m dash during 1988 Seoul Olympics. He was tested positive for steroids, stripped of his gold medal and banned for life.
Ben Johnson appealed in an Ontario court with Athletics Canada and International Amateur Athletic Federation as the respondents.
The following decision was endorsed by the court: “In this court, counsel for the appellant sought to throw doubt upon the accuracy of the test results reported by Dr Christiane Ayotte, chief of the Doping Control Laboratory, showing that the appellant tested positive for a banned substance. These test results were the basis upon which the appellant received his lifetime suspension. Had the appellant taken advantage of the appeal procedures available to him at the time the tests were conducted, the accuracy of the results could have been reviewed and evaluated. Moreover, Dr Ayotte swore an affidavit in support of her findings that was filed before the motions judge. There was no cross-examination on that affidavit, nor on the affidavit of any expert who gave evidence in this area. Accordingly, the argument now made in this court does not appear to have been presented before and we are not prepared to give effect to it. In our opinion, the very full reasons of the motions judge reflect no error in principle and the findings which she made are fully supported by the evidence before her. Accordingly, the appeal is dismissed with costs.”
Shane Warne’s first reaction was that he would appeal against the decision but considering the circumstances running against him, the thought of reconsidering the action prevailed.
He probably knows that he stands little chance of getting the punishment reversed.
THE greatest leggie of world cricket, Shane Warne, has finally been trapped leg before by the Australian Cricket Board after being tested positive for use of banned drug, hours before commencement of the most prestigious tournament of the game, the World Cup. His innocence is claimed by some cricket legends and the ACB chief but the opinion is negated indirectly by senior Australian team members and some incidents of his misconduct in the past.
