Cricket: ICC and WADA reach accord
After years of uncertainty the International Cricket Council and the World Anti Doping Authority have reached a conclusion about the controversial “whereabouts” clause.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has worked out an anti-doping code which has satisfied the WADA's 'whereabouts' rule.
Yet to even things out the international governing body of the game will not force any of the high profile international cricketers to provide information on their whereabouts especially when they are away from the game.
The two bodies have worked out a draft code which was made available to media.
As per the clause of the draft the full international members of ICC will have a "National Player Pool". The pool would be needed to provide "cricket whereabouts information" rather than their personal whereabouts. The whereabouts clause was the main stumbling block that meant that the ICC delayed in implementing the doping code in the game. The Board of Control for Cricket in India raised objections about the clause when some of the leading players in the country refused to sign the contract with the doping clause.
A middle ground has been reached and according to the new agreement the application of the rule would include compelling athletes to nominate their whereabouts for an hour every day every three months, which only applies to cricketers placed on a registered testing pool.
The policy would be implemented on players who have been implemented in doping offences as well as players who have been unfit or sustained injuries that sidelined them for at least three months.
Such players would be then demoted from the National Player Pool for whereabouts-related violations.
The draft code has already been distributed to member nations for sign-off, who are set to do the needful in the coming few days.
Meanwhile the softening of the stance is hailed as a victory for the BCCI. The Indian media reported, after the draft was handed over to them, that the relatively lenient code was a victory for its cricketers, who had cited security and privacy concerns as the real reasons behind their for their insistence of not signing it.
On the other hand an ICC spokesman denied that was the case, and added that the code had been drafted in consultation with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and has the body's full endorsement.
The doping organisation which is based in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 confirmed they had received a copy of the anti-doping code.
"We support WADA and its codes and its objectives but there is a challenge when you're trying to come up with a code that fits every single sport in the world, and our sport has particular characteristics that are sometimes hard to package up in a homogenised way", the spokesman said.
What remains to be seen is if the ICC can control the spread of the menace in the game that was dented when two Pakistani fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif tested positive for dope tests on the eve of the Champions’ Trophy in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 in 2006.
Another major doping scandal to rock cricket was the Shane Warne scandal in the 2003 World Cup, as the leg-spinner was pulled out of the Australian squad on the eve of their opening match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 when his dope tests turned out positive.
The ICC hopes that after implementing the new agreement the member boards would comply with the policies and work together in ensuring that doping scandals stay away from the game.
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