Cricket must not drop its guard

Over the past few decades, cricket has had its skirmishes with drug problems, but generally, when placed alongside the issue in many other sports, they have been small ripples, writes Mike Selvey in The Guardian.

The cases of Shoaib and Asif are different, with more serious implications as this is the first time players have produced positive tests for steroids, and in so doing it suggests a parable for our times. While on the one hand the ICC condemns drug use and encourages full cooperation by all its members with the demands of the World Anti-Doping Agency, it has made a rod for its back by increasing the physical and mental demands its schedules are placing on players.