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Shane Warned for attack on Ranatunga

Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne has been fined by the International Cricket Council and handed a two-match suspended ban following his vitriolic attack on Sri Lankan skipper Arjuna Ranatunga.
Following a hearing at Worcester, Warne was fined 50 per cent of his fee for the first match of the World Cup against Scotland tomorrow.

Warne wrote in an article in The Times on Friday that the game would be better off without Ranatunga and questioned his sportsmanship.

World Cup referee Cammie Smith conducted the hearing and found Warne guilty of "bringing the game into disrepute", a breach of Clause 8 of the ICC player code of conduct.

A statement from the ICC said: "Warne's penalty is a fine of 50 per cent of his first World Cup match fee and a suspended ban from two one-day international matches, which will be enforced on any further breach of the code of conduct in the next six months."

Saying that Ranatunga may be an experienced leader, but his batting has lost its punch and his fielding has dropped several notches, Warne wrote, "There is plenty of animosity between Arjuna and myself. I don't like him and I'm not in a club of one."

Ranatunga responded by saying that the attack said "more about Shane Warne and Australian culture than about me and our culture. We have a culture that is 2500 years old -- I think we all know where they [the Australians] come from."

Australian selector Allan Border questioned whether Warne would tour Sri Lanka later this year because of the growing acrimony and said: "It will be interesting if Warne makes himself available for that one."