Smith`s drugs and sex tale probed (23 May 1997)
PAUL SMITH, Shropshire`s new professional for the 1997 Minor Counties season, has been suspended by the club pending an official investigation by the disciplinary committee of the England and Wales Cricket Board
23-May-1997
Friday 23 May 1997
Smith`s drugs and sex tale probed
By Mike Berry
PAUL SMITH, Shropshire`s new professional for the 1997 Minor
Counties season, has been suspended by the club pending an
official investigation by the disciplinary committee of the
England and Wales Cricket Board.
Smith, 33, took centre stage in a two-page report in a tabloid
Sunday newspaper last weekend detailing a lurid secret life of
drugs, drink and sex during his 15 years as a
professional with Warwickshire.
He confessed to having experimented with hard drugs - even
hiding them on his person while playing - and said he once
shared a cocaine session with Diego Maradona in a Buenos
Aires nightclub.
He also claimed to having bedded 800 women during his career in
first-class cricket, and boasted of orgies involving other
sportsmen and personalities.
Dennis Amiss, the Warwickshire chief executive, said he was
"surprised and saddened" by the revelations while the Shropshire
committee met to discuss the article on Wednesday evening.
They issued a press release yesterday saying they felt it had
"brought the game of cricket into disrepute".
Therefore they have imposed an immediate suspension on Smith and
referred the matter to the ECB.
Smith made his Minor Counties debut for Shropshire in last
Sunday`s MCC Trophy win over Berkshire at
Finchampstead, taking two for 41 off eight overs and then scoring
14.
Sussex have confirmed they will be staging their Sunday League
match against Surrey under floodlights at Hove on Wednesday, Aug
27.
Chief executive Tony Pigott says that Sussex have received
permission from the English Cricket Board to switch the game from
Aug 31 and it will start at 5pm. Sussex`s championship
match against Surrey at Hove, scheduled to begin on Aug 27, has
been brought forward a day.
Pigott says that sponsorship will be in place to offset the
30,000 cost of temporary floodlights. He believes there will
be "proper day-night conditions" by the end of August, and the
lights will have a more powerful effect at that time of year.
Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/)