Warne ban sparks business-as-usual response

SYDNEY, Feb 22 AAP - Shane Warne's year-long doping ban sparked a business-as-usual response from the head of Australian cricket's selection panel.

Trevor Hohns said the decision by an Australian Cricket Board anti-doping committee to suspend Warne had to be lived with.

"Twelve months - that's the decision and everyone has to get on with it," Hohns told AAP.

Warne, 33, tested positive to the diuretics hydrochlorothiazide and amiloride on January 22 in a tablet he said was given to him by his mother Brigitte.

Australian captain Steve Waugh said it would be very hard for Warne to return to Test cricket after such an absence.

"It is the unknown question, I am sure that Shane will initially say to himself, `I want to get back in there and back on the field,' but as time goes by his mind will be in different places," Waugh said.

"But it is really his decision, and he has got to have the motivation to continue.

"To train for 12 months without playing, that has to be very difficult."

Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) president John Coates said the case served as a wake-up call to all athletes.

"This is a stark reminder to everyone that you have to know what's inside your body and you're responsible for what you take," Coates told Sky News.

An AOC spokesman added that there were no excuses for athletes taking banned substances.

"We believe every elite athlete in Australia should know what they can and can't take and pleading ignorance doesn't wash," the spokesman said.

World Anti-Doping Agency chief operating officer David Howman said he had not yet seen the reasoning behind the ruling.

"You've got to say that they've at least done the right thing in making sure that there was a doping infraction found because it would have been a very unusual decision to have done otherwise," Howman told Sky News.

"The international community would be expecting appropriate process and proper dealing with it according to what the evidence was and, of course without knowing all the evidence, it's difficult to comment.

"What we understand was that Warne was putting up a defence of inadvertent use, if you like, by taking something that was given to him by this mother and so on.

"That didn't really go down well as far as excuses were concerned because we've had so many of them over the years from spiked toothpaste to sitting on needles and so forth."

Former national drugs in sport committee chairman Peter Larkins said he thought the decision would be seen as appropriate by the international community and may set a precedent.

"I think it's probably about the right result," he said.

"It clearly sends a message that Australia is going to take drug code violations seriously."

Prime Minister John Howard said he would not comment on Warne's ban because the leg-spinner had vowed to appeal.

"As an appeal is pending the prime minister has no comment on this particular case," a spokesman said.

Federal Opposition Leader Simon Crean said Warne knew the rules and must pay the price.

"It's a tragedy for cricket," he said through a spokesman.

"But nobody can be immune to the penalties that apply for drugs in sport."