Cricket: Warne's latest revelation will hurt his image says Gilchrist

POTCHEFSTROOM - Australia's vice-captain Adam Gilchrist believes Shane Warne's delay in revealing he had taken more than one diuretic tablet could further harm his public image.

"There is no doubt people don't like being deceived," Gilchrist said yesterday after Warne announced he had taken another diuretic in early December - before injuring his shoulder - in addition to the one he tested positive for in January.

Warne said on the Australian television programme A Current Affair that he took the earlier fluid tablet for the sake of appearance and, because it was before his injury, proved he was not a drug cheat who had taken diuretics to mask other drugs to speed his recovery.

Gilchrist said: "I am not saying for one moment 'Warney' was intentionally doing that and I don't know all the fine details, but there could easily be a perception that information had been withheld.

"When that finally does come out people can be put off and that can cloud certain people's judgment."

The Australian Cricket Board's anti-doping committee banned Warne from playing and coaching at all levels for 12 months on Saturday. He had flown home from the World Cup in South Africa after being told of his positive drugs test.

The 33-year-old leg spinner, one of Wisden's five cricketers of the 20th century, had claimed he took a fluid-reducing tablet to improve his appearance without knowing it contained an illegal drug. Diuretics can also be used to mask other drugs.

Gilchrist added: "As far as I am concerned, what was said to us as a group [of players] wasn't intentionally trying to hide anything. Only one guy knows what the truth is and he has got to live with that."

Gilchrist said Warne's revelation to the squad that he had tested positive for a banned substance had been a "bombshell" on the eve of their first cup match against Pakistan.

"I don't remember the finer details of what was said," he said. "Personally I never sat down and thought 'he's only taken one or a lot of pills', I have not analysed it that much.

" ... There has been speculation there had been more than one tablet and now he has come out and said it I am not really stung by it or hurt by it.

"I am not going to toss and turn and think 'what else is there?' It is his prerogative to work out what he wants to say."

Queensland off-spinner Nathan Hauritz has replaced Warne in Australia's cup squad. The team, with four wins, are the tournament's only unbeaten side. They play Namibia tonight.

- REUTERS

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