A friend of Bingle's, believed to be a DJ, was about to sell a tell-all story and this may have been the final straw for Clarke. It was linked to the whereabouts of Bingle at the time of the theft of her car on December 29.

The engagement ring was off Bingle's finger yesterday. And a removalist van turned up outside the $6 million Bondi flat she had shared with Clarke, although there was some dispute about whether the van was for her or for a neighbour.

In the absence of comment from Bingle or Clarke, marketing and relationship counselling experts were offering their opinions on the TV news last night. But Max Markson, Bingle's agent, could not confirm the break-up last night.

When A Current Affair approached him with the same story, Markson said he had spent the day with Bingle and she had not told him such news.

The cricketer's manager, Chris White, did not return calls last night. When Clarke flew home on Tuesday, taking indefinite leave from his team's tour of New Zealand, White said it was to ''support Lara through this tough time''.

The previous day, Bingle had described the source of that tough time in an interview with Woman's Day: a nude photo of herself in the shower - taken four years ago by her then lover, the footballer Brendan Fevola - and published in the same magazine a week earlier.

Markson has denied Woman's Day paid her $200,000 for the interview. Cricket Australia, meanwhile, just hopes Clarke will be back in New Zealand for the Test starting tomorrow week.