MELBOURNE, March 26: Disgraced leg-spinner Shane Warne will receive up to A$15,000 (US$9,000) in prizemoney from Australia’s World Cup victory, despite not playing a single game after testing positive for a banned diuretic.
Warne was sent home on the morning of Australia’s opening match against Pakistan in Johannesburg. He was subsequently banned from cricket for a year by an Australian Cricket Board anti-doping panel in a case which damaged his reputation.
Australia’s greatest Test wicket-taker was in South Africa for 11 days and will reportedly collect the cash through a pro-rata system adopted by the players for the 55-day tournament.
His allocation — believed to be between $10,000 and $15,000 — has come under fire from Australian cricketing great Neil Harvey and is likely to anger large sections of the sporting public.
ACB public affairs general manager Peter Young said the Australian team wanted the payment system and adopted it especially for the World Cup.
Young said on Wednesday each of the Australian players were paid the same “day rate” for every day they took part in the successful cup campaign.
But Warne’s manager Jason Warne said his banned brother deserved his share of Australia’s $3.36 million (US$2.01 million) windfall.
Warne, Man-of-the-Match in Australia’s 1999 final victory against Pakistan, had been expected to play a major role in the World Cup before retiring from one-dayers to concentrate on Test cricket. He had lost around 13 kilogrammes (29 pounds) in the past year as part of a fitness regime.
His replacement Nathan Hauritz will also profit immensely, as will fast bowler Nathan Bracken, who replaced the injured Jason Gillespie, who played four World Cup matches.
Young said he could not say how much each player would receive.
But The Daily Telegraph reported on Wednesday that Hauritz would earn about $270,000 Australian, Bracken about $130,000 and Gillespie $180,000.
The World Cup victory against India on Sunday was not only Australia’s second in a row and a record third in total but also extended the side’s winning streak to a record 17 one-day games.—Reuters/AFP