The Hindu : "The bigg test"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 14, 2003

Sport

Sport - World Cup

"The bigg test"

As a disgraced Shane Warne returned home to face probably the biggest `test' of his career for taking a pill that turned bitter, the media softened its stand allowing some benefit of doubt to the `stupid' spinner. The headlines in the media speculated: "Was he stupid or scheming?", "Victim or villain?", "Dopey or Snow White?"

"I'm still trying to pick the spin from the sin," Kerry O'Keefe, a cricketer-turned-commentator, wrote in The Australian. "A former Australian team coach had once remarked to me: Shane is possibly the most indiscreet cricketer I have ever experienced. He will get caught many times before his career is over." O'Keefe wrote.

One of the articles quoted World Anti-Doping Agency chairman Dick Pound saying "diuretics are usually used in sports to mask something else that is why they are banned. I don't care where he (Warne) says he got them from, he should be punished."

Former English all-rounder Ian Botham called for an overhaul of the testing regime to protect players from what he described as an honest mistake. "There's a world of difference between brazen cheats who hoodwink competitors and the likes of Shane Warne," Botham said.

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