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| Sunday, 29 February 2004 |
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Warne reunited with Australia team after drugs ban COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Feb. 28 (Reuters) Shane Warne was reunited with the Australia team on Saturday for next month's three-Test tour of Sri Lanka after completing a 12-month drugs ban. Warne was suspended last year for taking a diuretic and missed the World Cup but was immediately recalled to the national team after playing just one first-class match. The world's most successful spin bowler arrived at the team hotel with other members of the Test squad during the early hours of Saturday to be greeted by his one-day team mates, who are already in action in Sri Lanka. The 34-year-old's first official practice with the team will take place on Sunday while the one-day team play their final game. Australia lead the five-match series 3-1. The first Test begins in Galle on March 8. Warne said he was delighted to be back in Sri Lanka, the scene of his first triumph as an Australia cricketer on the 1992 tour. "To come on this tour is a bonus as this is a special place for me," Warne told a news conference. "Sri Lanka holds some fond memories as when I came 12 years ago it was my first tour away with the Australia team." Warne snatched three wickets for no runs during a match-winning spell in the first Test that saw Australia clinch a dramatic 16-run victory. "To this day that first Test in 1992 was my favourite Test," said Warne. "I did have a tough time on that tour though, getting hit all over the park, but since then when I have visited I have done well. "I feel confident about playing here and if I am lucky enough to get a game that would be a bonus as well. I am ready for whatever challenge lies ahead, whether that is mixing the drinks or playing." Warne was selected for the Test leg of the tour after just two limited overs matches and one first-class game for Victoria, during which he proved himself to the selectors by taking six wickets. "The bowling is going sensational and I am fitter than I have ever been," he said. "I feel very fresh mentally and that's important because one of my biggest keys as a player is the way that I think -- I always have a plan when I am bowling. "In the last Pura Cup game against Tasmania I was more happy with the way I got my wickets than the wickets themselves." Warne has 491 test wickets and, if selected, will be competing with Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan, on 485 wickets, to be the first to the 500-wicket landmark, before attempting to overhaul Courtney Walsh's 519-wicket record. Asked about the race, he said: "It is certainly not an added pressure. If one of us gets to 519 in this series then that side will probably win. "I have the utmost respect for Murali. I think he is a wonderful bowler and it is wonderful what he has achieved so quickly. "It helps to bowl 40 or 50 overs an innings but he keeps fit and keeps coming up with new deliveries and tricks". |
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