/ 14 June 2005

The bald truth: Warne makes hair comeback

Concerned that his pate is starting to resemble an old cricket pitch that’s devoid of turf, champion legspinner Shane Warne is undergoing replacement treatment to regenerate his peroxided blond locks.

The notoriously image-conscious Warne, never afraid to test the boundaries of what’s acceptable in the often macho forum of Australian cricket, discovered he was losing his hair during a recent trip to a hairdresser.

The 35-year-old Australian legspinner, who holds the world record for most test wickets at 583, signed up with a hair replacement company that has previously featured retired international cricketers Graham Gooch and Greg Matthews in its advertising.

Warne reportedly will feature in TV and magazine advertising campaigns in Australia.

”It’s great. My hair is growing back and my hair loss has stopped,” Warne said in a statement.

”The treatment does not involve surgery, wig implants or hair attachments — although with his coiffured and peroxided locks it would be harder to pick than his flipper if it did,” reported Tuesday’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Warne also was undergoing weekly laser therapy and taking regrowth pills, the paper said.

The controversial cricketer notoriously claimed after testing positive for a banned diuretic that the substance was contained in a slimming tablet that his mother had given him to enhance his appearance on television. He was banned from cricket for 12 months for the doping violation. ‒ Sapa-AP