• Shane Warne may have moved beyond international cricket, but it appears that he has been playing with Mike Tyson’s head instead.

The former Australia spinner has been in Las Vegas playing charity poker with, among others, Tyson and Charles Barkley. And since Warne’s arrival, the rumour mill has been rife, first with talk of a Tyson comeback and of his intention to go to Melbourne in January to clean up in the A$10 million (about £4.7 million) Aussie Millions Poker Championships.

In a classic Tyson quote, he claimed: “I love Australia, but I’ve never been before.” And to prove his credentials, he said: “I know what cricket is — you throw a ball and you hit it with a paddle.”

However, given that Tyson has to pass a character test to gain a visa, his poker participation would appear questionable, particularly now that the president of the Australian Crime Victims Support Association reminded the world that “he has bitten off ears”.

Floyd Mayweather Jr mourns Jackson

The passing of Michael Jackson will have been particularly mourned in the home of Floyd Mayweather Jr. The Grand Rapids Press reports that, some years ago, the boxer walked into a music store in Michigan and bought four Michael Jackson dolls for $75 (now about £46) each.

Sydney Roosters’ hotel hell

The Sydney Roosters rugby league team appear to be suffering from serial disorientation after successive embarrassing hotel incidents. In June, Brad Fittler, the Roosters’ coach and one of the all-time greats, fined himself A$10,000 (about £4,800) after he was found banging on the door of two female guests in a hotel in Townsville wearing only shorts.

Fittler’s chances of keeping his job have not been helped after Nate Myles, the prop, appeared to have followed his lead in an incident at the Crowne Plaza in Terrigal. He allegedly took the act farther by being naked while attempting to enter the room of a family at 8am. He was later found to have defecated in the corridor and was discovered hiding in the fire escape.

Myles denies that he was drunk. He said that he had locked himself out of his room while suffering from a stomach upset.