Warne Pounded

Dick Pound, head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has written a book. And in a chapter on the worst excuses he has heard for positive drug tests he has this to say about one Shane Keith Warne:

"Warne said his mother had given him a diuretic so that he would look slimmer on television, without mentioning the shoulder injury from which he was trying to recover. The diuretic was a masking agent that could have hidden the possible use of steroids that would help the injury cure faster. He had returned to play almost twice as quickly as the experts had predicted."

As Cricinfo has helpfully reminded us, at the time of his offence Cricket Australia said his testimony - and that of his mother - as "vague and inconsistent".