7 instances when Australia brought disrepute to the game of cricket 

#3 Shane Warne and the drug scandal (2003)

Shane Warne was sent back home before the 2003 World Cup for testing positive to a banned substance

Warne may have been one of Australia’s decorated performers on the field, but often it was his off the field antics that didn’t keep him on a high pedestal as say an Allan Border, Steve Waugh or Adam Gilchrist. Days before Australia’s first match of the World Cup 2003 in South Africa, the leg-spinner was sent back home and subsequently, banned for a year by the Australian board.

The cricketing world was left shell-shocked when Warne tested positive for consuming a banned, non-prescribed drug which he bizarrely claimed that he had no knowledge of and it was a diuretic which his mother gave him to swallow.

Reportedly, Warne used it to speed up the process of returning from a shoulder injury to be fit in time for the marquee event. While some sources claimed that he was a victim of his own vanity and used it to lose weight quickly.

It was amongst the top controversies that marred an otherwise outstanding competition. Australia may have been left to do without their strike bowler, yet rallied quickly to go on and remain undefeated to lift the World Cup.