Putting to rest speculations about the number of diuretic pills he had consumed before being banned, disgraced spinner Shane Warne Tuesday admitted that he had taken a similar tablet in early December before sustaining the shoulder injury.
Speaking on Channel Nine's 'A Current Affair', Warne, leading wicket taker for Australia in Test cricket, said he was given the pill by his mother Brigitte to get rid of an alchohol-induced double chin.
"I was (drug) tested on December 12 which was negative. This was before the injury - I was injured on the 15th. It has since come up at the hearing that there were small traces of the same ingredients that I was tested positive for in January.
"I admitted to the hearing that I had taken a tablet in early December. I was doing a lot of wine promotions. I'd had a couple too many bottles of wine and had a few late nights.
"I took a fluid tablet then - that was the first time she (Brigitte) gave it to me. It was to get rid of a double chin," said Warne, who is serving a 12-month ban after testing positive for diuretic.
"I'd just come back from Tasmania where I'd played a one-day game. I was disappointed because we'd lost the game and we were out of the one-day competition. And I'd had a couple too many and came home and I took a fluid tablet then."
The leg-spinner also regretted for not paying any heed to Australian Sports Drugs Agency briefing on banned substances but added that he never took the tablet to mask anything.
"No I didn't - the same as when I was at school and I never paid any attention. Whether you hate me or like me the facts of the matter are that I don't read much. I don't take a lot of interest in the outside world. I just play cricket and all I worry about is my next game."
"The December 12 test showed small traces of the same thing. That was before my operation - that proves I didn't take the fluid tablet to mask anything."
Warne, with 491 Test wickets to his credit, vehemently denied having ever taken any performance enhancing drugs.
"I've never needed to, I never have and I never will take them. One side of me says 'get out there, appeal and get less penalty because it's not fair'.
"Another side of me says 'I'm a human being, I want to get on with my life, cop the penalty and just get on with it. I don't want to rush into a decision ... whether I just go away for 12 months, I just don't know at this stage. I don't want to be rushed into anything until it's clear what I want to do."
The 12-month ban would cost him around "three million Australian dollars and cost me time."
"That's been very tough for my family. It's been the toughest two weeks of my life," said the spinner.
More from rediff