Cricket: Sympathy for shamed Shane

By RICHARD BOOCK

Depending how you view it, fallen hero Shane Warne is either a blatant drugs cheat, a none-too-bright mummy's boy, or a likeable rogue who unwittingly found himself embroiled in the biggest doping scandal in cricket.
In contrast to the Hansie Cronje match-fixing case, the jury still seems to be out on Warne's degree of culpability, even after the Australian Cricket Board's anti-doping committee suspended him for 12 months.
The burning question is whether his offence - testing positive for a banned diuretic - was a mere technical slip-up caused by the persuasive influence of his mother Brigitte, or an attempt to mask the use of a genuine performance-enhancer.
Critics point to the circumstantial evidence surrounding his positive test; the fact that he had just made what was described as a "miraculous" comeback from a painful shoulder dislocation; that steroid use was a proven method of speeding recovery, and that his final hurrah in one-day international cricket - the World Cup - was imminent.
Supporters respond with emotive stories about how Brigitte wanted him looking his best for a television interview, and harangued test cricket's second-leading wicket-taker into taking the diuretic.
Warne reckons he took the pill only to stop his mother harping on, and Australian Cricketers' Association chief executive Tim May - a former team-mate of the leg-spinner - said it was high time the ACB revised its anti-doping policy to make a distinction between a technical breach and an intentional one.
"Just because a player makes a mistake, [it] doesn't mean he's a drug cheat," May said.
He added that players could even prove to the ACB's anti-doping committee that they had not used a performance-enhancing drug or had tried to mask one, but that their reputations would still suffer under the present policy.
New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming was one to view the incident in a qualified manner, saying at the time that it raised questions about the thoroughness of New Zealand's policies in terms of a mistake outside the bounds of competition.
At the time, he drew a comparison with All Blacks prop Joe MacDonnell, who was given a reprieve after testing positive for a banned substance allegedly contained in an asthma inhaler.
"When you are outside that umbrella of support staff and medical personnel, there is an opportunity for a player to make a mistake," said Fleming.
New Zealand left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori, a long-time admirer of one of Wisden's five players of the century, said he felt sorry for Warne and that the game would be poorer for his absence.
"I was pretty disappointed from a personal point of view when I heard the news because I know Shane, I know how good he is for the game, and it's a shame to think he'll be out for a year.
"But he made a mistake and in this day and age someone's got to pay the price."
Vettori said he understood the need for international cricketers to know the schedule of banned substances and that he appreciated why the policies were in place, but still had some difficulty in understanding the correlation between genuine performance-enhancing, and attempts to recover from injury.
Warne called his ban "anti-doping hysteria", a sentiment Vettori said he could understand.
"I think I understand where he's coming from because using something to help you heal or recover from injury isn't performance-enhancing in my book - but I guess everyone should know the rules by now and if you stuff up, you've got to go."
The 33-year-old leg spinner reacted immediately to his ban by announcing that he would appeal the decision, but has since reconsidered, apparently after learning that an appeal could open the way for his suspension to be extended.
And he has also admitted taking another tablet a month earlier - again given to him by his mother - and taken, he says, for vanity's sake.
Vettori's view was similar to that of South African captain Shaun Pollock, who said this week that he expected Warne to bounce back from his ban.
"World cricket will miss him, there's no doubt about that," said Pollock. "But I'm sure, with it being only a year, that he will be back with Australia at some stage.
"It's sad from his perspective to have to sit out a year of international cricket at this stage of his career - on the verge of 500 test wickets.
"And it is very unfortunate if the tablet was taken by mistake - you have to sympathise with the chap a bit. But I suppose rules are rules and they have to try and set a precedent for other people to follow."