Cricket Australia to review codes and policies

Cricket Australia will review its codes and policies after a decision by an independent arbitrator that its policies and agreements do not specifically allow players suspended for anti-doping breaches to be banned from all cricket.

Chief Executive Officer James Sutherland said Cricket Australia believed it was inconsistent and detrimental to the spirit of the game for suspended players to not be suspended from all cricket.

"We had believed we had this right under our Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) but accept the umpire's ruling that this is not the case. We now need to review our codes to determine whether it is appropriate to make changes to reflect what we believe the spirit of cricket demands," Mr Sutherland said.

Cricket Australia already plans to review its codes as part of a regular review and update of its policies and will now expand that review. A timeframe has not been decided but the review is likely to be over the next few months.

The ACA had challenged Cricket Australia's position on this issue and Cricket Australia suggested an independent arbitration to address the ACA's concern, which was over and above the normal MOU process. The two parties agreed to independent arbitration by Mr Peter O'Callaghan QC. He advised of his decision on 18 July and CA received his reasons for the decision today.

The reasons Mr O'Callaghan provided are available on Cricket Australia's official website www.baggygreen.com.au