Speed urges boards to conduct tests

Malcolm Speed, the ICC's chief executive, has urged all Full Members of the ICC to carry out regular drug tests on their players if they haven't already begun doing so.

"Pakistan is one of five of our Full Members that are already testing their players outside of ICC events and I would urge those not already doing so to follow suit for the good of the game," Speed said. "That way, if cricket does have a drug-related problem - and I do not believe it has - we can identify it, deal with it and make sure the game gets stronger as a result."

The current drug scandal, Speed said, was the Pakistan board's internal matter and he was confident that it would be handled with appropriate thoroughness. Apart from Pakistan, Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa have been testing their players.

"Traditionally cricket has been regarded as a low risk sport when it comes to the subject of drug use but that does not mean we can be or are complacent in any way," he said. "Cricketers are role models, they need to be sending out the right messages to the public and that is one of the reasons why we must have a zero tolerance on drug use in any context.

"Our approach has been consistent and long-standing in this matter as we have tested players at all our events involving Full Members since the 2002 Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand."

Speed said that the ICC had signed up with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in July this year and had its own anti-doping code in place. The participating members of the ICC Champions Trophy, according to him, had confirmed that they would undertake education programmes for the players.

"The responsibility for the education of players on the details of the ICC Anti-Doping Code rests with our members but the ICC will assist in those programs wherever it is required to do so. To this end we have produced an anti-doping DVD which has been distributed to all the participating teams at the Champions Trophy and it is part of our ongoing commitment on this subject."

The ICC is yet to conduct tests in the Champions Trophy it has been decided that six matches will feature random sampling with two players from each team up for testing. The samples will be sent to a WADA-accredited laboratory in Malaysia for testing.