LONDON, England (AFP) — Fresh from his ban for an ugly spat with Marlon Samuels during an Australian Twenty20 match, cricket great Shane Warne found himself in trouble on the other side of the world yesterday with a speeding fine.

Warne, 43, was fined £500 (¤$613,69) after admitting driving at more than 100 miles (160 kilometres) per hour on a south of Scotland motorway where the maximum speed is 70 mph.

He escaped a driving ban, but had five penalty points put on his licence at a court in the town of Dumfries, south of Glasgow.

Warne was represented by lawyer Graham Walker, who entered a plea of guilty on behalf of the leg-spinner, widely regarded as one of cricket's greatest players of all-time.

In remarks quoted by the BBC, Walker described the incident on the A74(M) motorway north of Gretna in September as an "error

of judgement".

The prosecutor told the court Warne, driving on an Australian licence at the time of the offence, had been caught travelling at 103 mph.

Walker added: "Warne is a man who had no previous convictions and no points on his driving licence and travels thousands of miles a year."

In the course of a stellar career, Warne took 708 wickets in 145 Tests for Australia before retiring from international cricket in 2007.

However, Warne — while making a name for himself as a television cricket commentator — has continued to play in Twenty20 events in India and his native Australia and recently hinted at a possible Test return for the Ashes series in England later this year.

On Monday, he was banned for one match and fined Aus$4,500 (US$4,700, £2,927) for an ugly, foul-mouthed clash with West Indies batsman Samuels.

Warne captaining the Melbourne Stars against city rivals the Renegades in the domestic Twenty20 Big Bash tournament on Sunday, was angered by Samuels pulling back David Hussey when the batsman was turning for a second run.

Then when Samuels was batting later in the game, Warne swore at the Test player. In the next over Warne, in the field, threw the ball at the Jamaican's chest and Samuels reacted by tossing his bat down the pitch towards the Australian.

The two players squared up and had to be separated by the umpires.