 |  I've been doing my fitness work and I'm pretty fit at the moment |
Shane Warne reckons the spin-friendly pitches of Sri Lanka will give him a great chance to earn selection for Australia's tour there in March 2004.
Warne shamed Australian cricket at the start of the World Cup in February this year when a drugs test revealed he had been taking banned diuretics.
The famed leg-spinner has had to miss 12 months of cricket, giving a chance to Stuart MacGill to establish himself as Australia's regular slow bowler.
But when the ban comes to an end on 10 February, the record-breaking Warne, now 34, will be hungry to assume the mantle once again.
He only needs nine more to reach the rarest of thresh-holds, 500 Test wickets.
Warne gave an interview to Australian television on Friday as the team he would normally be playing in dominated the Adelaide Test match against India.
"There's obviously a lot of things that go into it and [the selectors] will take two or maybe three spinners to Sri Lanka," Warne said.
"So I like to think if I'm bowling well and I've presented myself in the best possible way that I'm a chance."
The ban ends four days before Australia arrive in Sri Lanka for a series of five one-day internationals followed by a three-Test series.
It would seem remarkable if Australia did not select Warne for the touring party. Even England have taken three spinners on their current tour of Sri Lanka.
If he does go on tour, officials might want to keep a close eye on the fallen Aussie hero, however.
 Warne's return to one-day colours will probably take longer |
In August, a South African woman he had met on Australia's 2002 tour of South Africa in 2002 revealed he had been sending her lewd text messages.
And in August 2000 he was stripped of the vice-captaincy of his country after bombarding an English nurse with phone messages.
Significantly, that revelations led Australia to replace Warne as vice-captain.
Ricky Ponting took over the role and he will be the man to replace Steve Waugh as Test captain when the veteran retires in the New Year.
Warne is not expecting to return in time for the one-day internationals in Sri Lanka. Instead, he will play for Victoria and try to be called up in time for the Tests.
He said: "I think if I'm lucky enough to get selected for Victoria, I've got a couple of four-day games and a couple of one-day games plus a second eleven game.
"So hopefully by then the selectors would have had a good look at me."
"I've been doing my fitness work and I'm pretty fit at the moment. Now I've just got to get match-fit and start bowling."
One man taking a pretty dim view of Warne's imminent return is MacGill.
He said the current Tests against India might be the last he plays.
"If Shane does come back for the first Test in Sri Lanka that means I've got three Tests to go and that's it," said MacGill, 32.
"I probably won't play again. Any wicket I get from now until Sri Lanka is a bonus. It's obviously out of my control."
MMIX
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