A New Zealand newspaper said Sunday it had been the target of a legal warning and a public relations offensive after it began investigating allegations involving Australian cricket star Shane Warne and a text message. The Sunday News said it had received a call offering an off-field story about Warne for 30,000 NZ dollars (21,400 US) and the approaches began before it had completed its investigations or sought comment from the player.
The enquiry centred on the alleged sending of a text message when Warne was in Wellington earlier this year.
The lawyer's letter, published by the newspaper, said: "Without knowing the content (and alleged recipient) of a particular message, Mr Warne is unable to confirm whether he sent it."
"That aside, however, personal text messages sent between any two parties are private and confidential in nature, and may not be published without the consent of those parties."
A former New Zealand cricket star, which the newspaper did not identify, had also made approaches "effectively asking us to stop our inquiries", while a woman claiming to represent Warne's interests in New Zealand wanted to know details of the investigation, the Sunday News said.
A spokesman for the Australian cricket team said they were looking into the matter.
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