There were no positive dope tests at the recent Cricket World Cup in the West Indies, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Thursday.
A total of 68 players were tested during the 47-day event, which ended on April 28 with Australia clinching an unprecedented third successive title.
Two players from each team were chosen randomly in 15 of the 51 Cup games and from two warm-up matches.
”The fact that all drug tests at the ICC Cricket World Cup proved negative is a great result for the game,” chief executive Malcolm Speed said in a statement.
”It sends out a very positive message, something everyone connected with the game can be very proud of.”
Although cricket is not widely associated with doping, the sport was rocked last year when Pakistan pacemen Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif were axed for the ICC Champions Trophy following positive tests for banned steroid nandrolone.
They were initially banned but an appeals panel of the Pakistan Cricket Board cleared them and lifted their suspensions.
The World Anti-Doping Agency, of which the ICC is a signatory, has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the decision to clear them.
Both were subsequently withdrawn from the World Cup squad after being declared unfit by the board’s medical panel. — Reuters