No reason to test Sri Lankan players, says board

The Sri Lankan board (SLC) has said that it has not found any grounds to test any of their players for using drugs. Reacting to the ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed's call for all full members to carry out regular drug tests on their players, Duleep Mendis, the chief executive of the board, said: "We have thoroughly educated our players on all aspects and the dangers of using banned substances. They have no excuse whatsoever to say they are ignorant of the facts."

Mendis further went onto state that the SLC had made it a point to keep the ICC informed on whatever drugs had been used for the players. "There was an instance about six to seven months ago when we had to use a cough syrup for a player. But it contained a branded drug and we had to get clearance from the ICC to use it," said Mendis. "We are on course and following the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code with the ICC."

Mendis said the only instance when Sri Lankan players were tested for drugs was during the 2003 World Cup in South Africa when random tests were carried out on two players. "Other than that I don't think we have carried out any tests on our players."

"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 had 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."

Apart from Pakistan, Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa are the other members who have been testing their players. "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," said Speed.

The ICC is yet to conduct tests in the ongoing 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.