Warne threatens action against media over inquiry coverage

Warne and Mark Waugh arrived here late Friday after giving evidence in Melbourne to the Pakistani judicial inquiry into the affair.

Warne claimed Saturday he had been victimised by the media and hinted he may take legal action against sections of it for what he believed was unfair treatment.

He said some of the media had drawn unfair parallels between his involvement with an Indian bookmaker and an attempted bribe offer from former Pakistan captain Salim Malik.

``One of the most disappointing things, I think, is parts of the media (and) the constant innuendo to match-fixing and bribery,'' Warne said.

``As an Australian living in Australia you would expect a little better but at the same time we made a mistake and deserved to be punished.

``Certain parts of the media have tried to link both ... and there's a few papers that are in the hands of my lawyers, over the past couple of days definitely.''

Warne claimed his involvement in the judicial inquiry had inspired him as captain and Australia's leading bowler.

``I'm pretty pumped up for this game,'' he said. ``As captain my record's pretty good for Australia, one from one, so I'd like to keep that intact and whip the Poms.''

Warne led Australia to an emphatic victory over New Zealand in his only game as captain in Sydney last summer.

England captain Alec Stewart did not believe the inquiry would have an affect on Australia's performance in the series opener.

``What has happened has happened,'' Stewart said. ``It didn't affect them in the Test series and there's no reason it should affect them here in the one-dayers.''

Probable teams:

Australia - Mark Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Darren Lehmann, Michael Bevan, Greg Blewett, Shane Warne (captain), Brendon Julian, Brad Young, Damien Fleming, Glenn McGrath.

England - Nick Knight, Alec Stewart (captain), Graeme Hick, Mark Alleyne, Neil Fairbrother, Adam Hollioake, Mark Ealham, Robert Croft, Darren Gough, Dean Headley, Allan Mullally.