ICC pushes for global policy on drugs

The International Cricket Council (ICC) hopes to have a worldwide doping policy in place for next September's Champion's Trophy tournament in England. Malcolm Speed, the ICC's chief executive, announced that he would be meeting with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) soon to agree a strategy.

"We are looking at a generic doping program that will go across the top of cricket," Speed said. "We are about to have meetings with WADA to look at adopting the WADA program, but there is some opposition within cricket to that."

The subject hit the headlines in February when Shane Warne was banned for one year after failing a drugs test, when a minimum two-year ban was demanded by many anti-drug campaigners. Dick Pound, WADA's president, condemned Cricket Australia for allowing Warne to train with the Victoria and Australia squads while still banned.

Speed said that he would be asking for some leeway in punishing those found guilty. "If there are cheats out there who are using banned substances, yes we want to punish them," he said. "But if there are issues that fall below that level, we want the discretion to deal with it on a more issue-sensitive basis."

Speed added that cricket had to be seen to be serious about the issue, but admitted that it had a long way to go if it were to tackle to matter properly.