The pressure on Shane Warne mounted on Tuesday as he skipped a training session with Victoria, avoiding a media pack keen to ask the Australian leg spinner about his latest telephone sex allegations.
Johannesburg mother of three, Helen Cohen Alon was quoted in South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper last week as saying Warne telephoned her up to 40 times after a models' party.
"Every time he came to South Africa he would contact me," Cohen Alon told Australia television on Monday.
The 45-year-old divorced South African has also asked Warne to take a lie detector test.
"It's rare for Shane not to speak. I concede that point," Victoria state coach David Hookes told reporters on Tuesday.
"It's probably going to be tense until he speaks. From his mates' point of view, when they hear from Shane then they can make some judgement."
Warne, a magnet for controversy and the second-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket with 491 from 107 matches, toured South Africa with the Australia team in February-March 2002.
He returned for this year's World Cup but left the tournament in February without playing a game after testing positive for diuretics. He was later banned for 12 months.
PERSONAL ISSUE
In a statement released on Sunday, Warne's brother and promoter Jason said: "We regard the allegations of the South African woman Helen Cohen Alon as a personal issue between Shane, (wife) Simone and the relevant parties.
"This appears to be a blatant attempt by a person attempting to set up someone for personal gain -- whether that be monetary or notoriety -- and we will consult our legal people in this regard."
Warne, one of Wisden's five cricketers of the 20th century, was stripped of the Australia vice-captaincy in 2000 after admitting he had made lewd telephone calls to a British nurse.
Cohen Alon said she met Warne on February 20 last year in a clothing store. "The moment he laid eyes on me, he was interested," Cohen Alon was quoted as saying in the Sunday Times.
Hookes said: "I think Warne handles himself pretty well on the majority of occasions. Occasionally he does things that we put a moralistic view on and that's pretty unfair of us."
