Melbourne, Feb. 4: Former Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne has asked for police protection to ward off a paparazzi photographer, who is allegedly tormenting his family.

According to the Herald Sun, Warne has lodged a complaint against celebrity snapper Jamie Fawcett, who was at the centre of a long-running harassment row with screen star Nicole Kidman.

Warne has complained the photographer has been staking him out, amid speculation he has reunited with ex-wife Simone Callahan, the Herald Sun reports.

The champion cricketer is said to be enraged photographs were taken of his three children, Brooke, Jackson and Summer.

Pictures of the Warne family enjoying a day on the beach recently fetched 50,000 dollars from a women''s magazine.

Warne yesterday confirmed the complaint to police, but declined to expand on Fawcett''s activities.

Fawcett defended his actions, confirming he had recently been confronted by the former leg-spinner outside a Melbourne cafe.

Fawcett was accused of harassing Kidman and planting a listening device outside her home in the exclusive Sydney suburb of Darling Point.

A court heard last year that Kidman became terrified when Fawcett allegedly chased her car across town as she travelled to her parents'' house for dinner.

Criminal charges laid against Fawcett were dropped, but he was unsuccessful in a defamation action against a Sydney newspaper that described him as "Sydney''s most hated photographer".

The Warnes are believed to have rekindled their rocky love affair in recent months and have been seen together in Brighton and on the Mornington Peninsula near Simone''s beach house.

Both have refused to comment on their relationship. (ANI)