ICC SAY CHAMPIONS TROPHY WAS CLEAN OF DRUGS

Champions Trophy was drug-free, says ICC

The International Cricket Council (ICC) says random doping tests conducted on 24 cricketers at the recent Champions Trophy in India turned out to be negative.

The lone blip was the Pakistani pace duo of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif testing positive for the banned steroid nandrolone in tests conducted by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) before the biennial event.

Akhtar and Asif were both sent home without playing in the tournament when the PCB announced the results a day before Pakistan's first match against Sri Lanka in Jaipur on October 17.

The PCB later banned Akhtar for two years and Asif for one year.

The Champions Trophy was the first tournament involving Test-playing nations where doping tests were conducted since the ICC signed the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) code in July.

Two players from each team were randomly selected for testing from six of the tournament's 21 matches, including one semi-final and the final between eventual champions Australia and the West Indies.

The tests were submitted to the WADA-accredited laboratory in Malaysia.

"The fact all the tests conducted at the Champions Trophy have been negative is great news for our sport," ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said in the statement.

"It confirms cricket's reputation for being low risk when it comes to drug use but that does not mean the ICC, or any of our members, can afford to be complacent in this area.

"To this end, five of our full members - Australia, England, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa - are already testing outside of ICC events and the West Indies is set to join that list in the near future."

Random testing will also take place at the World Cup in the West Indies next March.

 

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