Advantage for Sachin & Co!

Ian Chappell says that tough dope tests will help cricketers gain in credibility

Advantage for Sachin & Co!

Ian Chappell says that tough dope tests will help cricketers gain in credibility

The players are naturally worried about an invasion of privacy. For their part, the ICC don't want to be seen as an administrative body that went soft on the players and was out of step with the major sports around the world.

In a recent interview on the subject of the ICC's drug testing, the CEO Haroon Lorgat made a crucial point; "We hope to ensure that our sport remains fair and clean." If international cricketers want to better understand why this is so critical they only have to study what a damaging effect performance enhancing drugs (Peds) have had on Major League baseball in America. Baseball's failure to implement a drug testing policy until the middle of this decade is having a disastrous on-going effect on the way players of recent vintage are perceived.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, who are expected to attend a meeting with an ICC representative in Mumbai on Sunday

As a number of baseballers have said: "Every player from this era is assumed to be guilty by association."

What happened in baseball in an era of non-testing was an escalation in the use of Peds. The borderline major leaguers indulged because they felt it might be their ticket to a longer and more rewarding career. Some top ranked players succumbed presumably because they saw other high calibre performers enhancing their records and enjoying the adulation of the fans. Not wanting to be left in their wake they found a way to prolong their career and in doing so increase their chances of reaching the hall of fame.

Now that some of the top-notch players are being "outed" by rumours and evidence of positive results from unofficial tests they are considered by many to only be deservingu00a0u00a0 of entering the hall of shame.u00a0u00a0u00a0

Peds problem

And then there were those who used Peds purely to ensure they were able to keep up with the daily grind and others who did it to speed up the recovery process when injured.

The result is an era of dubious records and suspicion of every player who suddenly had a break out season or "bulked up".

My gut feeling is cricket doesn't have a problem anything like the magnitude of baseball. Nevertheless, it would be nau00efve to think cricket players were absolutely clean. Tim May, the CEO of FICA (International players association) did suggest a few years ago that if the schedule kept on expanding at an alarming rate some players would be tempted to use artificial means just to stay on the field.

If cricket shied away from a tough drug testing regime there's no guarantee doping wouldn't escalate and then down the track fans would have similar doubts over players' records.

It's easy to see why the ICC wants a random and year round drug testing regime. In the cricket world there's a major imbalance in players' earnings. If doping did escalate, the higher paid performers would have access to the more sophisticated drugs.

The risk of not having a tough, year round drug testing regime would be a widening in the competitive gap between the haves and the have nots. The players using the cheaper drugs would also run a far greater risk of being caught out by testing.u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0

The main gripe of the players and it's not just the cricketers but a number of different sportsmen is that they have to notify the officials of their whereabouts out of season. As well as being an invasion of privacy, the players point out that it's also a security risk having people know your whereabouts.

Positive side

The ICC is trying to address this concern, as I'm sure are all sports involved in the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) testing regime. However, in the end, it may be that this is the price the players have to pay for a strong testing regime that ensures "the sport remains fair and clean."

While it may be an inconvenience at the time, in the years to come, the players will be grateful. If a tough testing regime ensures the public isn't questioning the integrity of players whose records feature more asterisks than an ancient honour roll, then it will have been a price worth paying.

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