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Doping and cricket

The result of an internal dope test conducted by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is bad news for the game of cricket. Ace fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif testing positive for the banned steroid nandrolone — the only other case of steroid abuse in international cricket involved Australia's great leg-spinner Shane Warne and a diuretic — suggests the insidious tentacles of doping have spread to cricket. That cricket rewarded multi-textured skills more than pure athletic ability over the years, perhaps more than any other ball game, helped keep drugs out of the sport. But the rapid evolution of the game — the emphasis on fitness as opposed to skill, the increase in injuries with cramped scheduling, and the influx of big money making speedy returns imperative — has left cricketers susceptible to quick-fix solutions. The drug test findings couldn't have come at a worse time for Pakistan. Over the last few months, the team has been subjected to a ball-tampering umpiring verdict, which proved unjust and baseless, a mortifying and destabilising captaincy fiasco, and a dubious change in the leadership of the PCB. The withdrawal of Akhtar & Asif has stripped the side of its two main weapons in the second most important one-day cricket tournament in the world. Cricket fans in India will be disappointed at not being able to watch two of the most exciting fast-bowling acts in world cricket.

In a season of nightmares for its players and officials, the PCB must be complimented for its straightforward and no-nonsense handling of the situation. Coach Bob Woolmer's initiative to get his wards tested internally was, in fact, an exemplary run-up to the random testing that the ICC will undertake at the Champions Trophy. Akhtar, who has protested his innocence, and Asif now face a hearing at the drugs tribunal the PCB has set up. That the PCB doesn't have an anti-doping policy and the case is within its jurisdiction could mean that the players, even if found guilty, are let off with less than a two-year ban (mandatory for first-time offenders under ICC rules), as Warne was by Cricket Australia in 2003. The ICC, however, can appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport — under article 15.2 of its anti-doping code — if it finds the PCB-imposed ban less than satisfactory. The Board of Control for Cricket in India should learn from this episode and formulate an anti-doping policy as well as a concrete plan to prevent and deal with doping.

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