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NEWS Cricket World Cup 2007>How doping has rocked cricket 10th Nov 2006 22.18 IST By Manish Kumar Even though doping cases in cricket are far less than in other sports, doping scandals have certainly rocked the great game. The use of drugs in sport has been around since the turn of 20th century although there are many earlier reports of use going back to the Ancient Greeks use of stimulating potions.
England star all-rounder, Ian Botham was charged of using cannabis during the New Zealand tour and faced a period of suspension. So did Ed Giddins of Sussex suspected for cocaine abuse. Another English cricketer, Phil Tufnel failed a dope test. New Zealanders, Dion Nash, Adam Parore, Shane Thompson, and Mathew Hart were charged with smoking pot during the tour of South Africa. There were reports, though not substantiated, linking the Pakistani skipper, Imran Khan, and Qasim Omer, with doping. Even stars like Wasim Akram , Waqar Younis , Mushtaq Ahmed and Aquib Javed were accused during the tour of West Indies in 1993, but a follow up was not done seriously in the interest of completing the tour. In West Indies, the former wicket-keeper, David Murray, even served a jail term for possession of drugs. The scandal that literally rocked international cricket came in February 2003, just prior to the start of the 2003 World Cup in South Africa when Australian leg-spin wizard Shane Keith Warne was sent home after a drugs test during the one-day series in Australia earlier in the year returned a positive result for a banned diuretic. Warne initially claimed that he took only one of what he called a "fluid tablet" – the prescription drug Moduretic – on his mother's suggestion, in an attempt to improve his appearance as he has battled weight problems throughout his career. Warne claimed ignorance of the banned nature of the tablet he took, as well as much of the drug policy of the Australian Cricket Board, despite extensive briefings on the matter in the past. But the drug was a known masking agent for anabolic steroids, and many accused Warne of using the banned substances to recover from a shoulder injury, which had side-lined him at the time. Warne was found guilty of breaching the Australian Cricket Board's (now Cricket Australia) drug code, and imposed a one-year ban. It was further revealed, and confirmed by Warne in a subsequent television interview, that he had actually taken two of the pills. The drug panel decided against imposing the full two-year ban because the drug would have had no performance-enhancing effect, there was no evidence that Warne used the diuretic to mask steroid use, and medical opinion stated that steroids would not have enhanced Warne's recovery from a shoulder injury he had suffered several weeks earlier, or assisted his game in any case. Warne initially considered appealing, but decided against it, as several people pointed out that the penalty could have been increased if an appeal was made. And the latest drug scandal that has come to the fore is that of Pakistani fast bowling duo Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif . On October 16, 2006, Shoaib was suspended by the Pakistan Cricket Board, along with Asif after the pair was tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance nandrolone. They were consequently pulled from the ICC Champions Trophy 2006. Former PCB chairman later stated that he had always suspected Shoaib of substance abuse due to his consistent "reservations" to drug tests. Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq had also previously complained about Shoaib's drug abuse but was not acted upon by the PCB. According to some Pakistani sources, PCB management had caught the two players red handed using drugs during Pakistan tour of England and National Training Academy at Lahore. However, the matter was resolved after their apology to the team management. Shoaib immediately declared his innocence and he declined knowingly taken any performance enhancing drugs. In a statement issued to the press, he claimed that he could never cheat team-mates or opponents. During a hearing with the PCB Anti-Doping Committee (ADC), Shoaib along with Asif maintained taking non-steroidal dietary supplements. Shoaib, however, failed to convince the committee of his innocence. In its report submitted to PCB, ADC recommended a two year ban. The tribunal revealed that Asif had been using a protein supplement, Promax-50. The panel is reported to have shown a degree of leniency to Asif as they believe that he did not understand what he was taking and stopped at the request of the physiotherapist. On November 1, 2006, PCB handed down a two-year suspension to Shoaib and a one-year suspension to Asif, banning them from professional cricket during the period. Both Shoaib and Asif have subsequently been added to Pakistan Olympic Association list of doping offenders. The Shane Warne scandal served a warning signal to the International Cricket Council which put into force an Anti-Doping Policy in 2004, violation of which meant a ban of up to two years from the game, along with financial penalties, because it knows that failure to control doping will be ruination of what is still called a gentleman's game. Also View In-Depth Coverage: Cricket World Cup 2007 Team Page: Australia Team Page: Pakistan | LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE NEWS ~ Gilchrist has no plans to retire after World Cup ~ Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record ~ India 'squash the Orange' in World Cup warm-up game ~ Symonds gets a new hairdo for World Cup ~ Dhoni readies himself for stand-up act at World Cup (more in NEWS) FACE-TO-FACE ~ 500-mark a possibility in World Cup: Hayden ~ Minnows add charm to World Cup: Dravid (more in FACE-TO-FACE) COLUMNS ~ Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? (more in COLUMNS) OFF-THE-FIELD ~ Ganguly again the darling of corporate world ~ Ganguly roped in as brand ambassador of Puma (more in OFF-THE-FIELD) PLAYERS Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble (more PLAYERS) TEAMS India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Holland | 
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