It's a Warne-ing as Shane returns.

Byline: ALEX LOWE

NEVER can a state second XI fixture have demanded as much attention as Victoria's Cricket Australia Cup match against Queensland next week.

The normally sedate Junction Oval in the beachside Melbourne suburb of St Kilda will echo to the sound of photographers' shutters, journalists' keyboards and the excited whisper of cricket supporters everywhere.

Shane Warne's return to cricket on February 10, after a year's suspension, will be every bit as unusual as the manner of his departure.

On the eve of the World Cup in South Africa, Warne was informed he had tested positive for a banned diuretic.

Rather than continue playing, as he was entitled to do, the world's premier leg-spinner withdrew from what was to be his one-day international farewell to defend his name.

That defence, though, was dismissed as 'one of the best' excuses heard by World Anti-Doping Agency boss Dick Pound - namely that Warne had been given the slimming tablet by his mother so he could look good announcing his one-day retirement on the TV.

The recommended suspension was two years. Warne got one but was outlawed from having any official contact with Cricket Australia affiliations.

When the governing body allowed him to train with his Victorian team-mates, the Australian government stepped in and pressed for his total exclusion.

Development

All of which has led, through 12 months of sex-text scandal, plenty of golf and a heavy fitness regime, to the antiquated Junction Oval.

Up the Punt Road on Tuesday, top-of-the-table Victoria will be playing for a home final in the Pura Cup (formerly Sheffield Shield), but all the focus will be on day two of the second XI match.

As a competition designed for development rather than results, Cricket Australia Cup laws allow teams to name 12 players and use them all.

Victoria left one spot vacant yesterday, unable to name Warne in their side until the suspension is formally lifted. On day two of the match, Warne will return and the race for a spot in the Test squad for the tour of Sri Lanka will be on.

The 34-year-old will have around 10 days - three-quarters of a second XI fixture, one Pura Cup match and an ING Cup match (the domestic one-day competition) - to prove he is worthy of a place.

What would await him in Sri Lanka is the chance to take the nine Test wickets he needs to become the first spinner to break the 500 mark, beating Muttiah Muralitharan to the honour, and then target Courtney Walsh's world record of 519.

Warne appears to have done all in his power to challenge for an immediate return.

In recent weeks he has netted with former team-mate Ian Healy, privately booked the Junction Oval for a practice session - allowed because, unlike the MCG, it can be publicly hired - and endured eight training sessions a week to lose 10lbs.

The big question remains, though. Will he be the same player 12 months on?