Dope testing programme will be reasonable: Lorgat

In a bid to ease cricketers' concerns over the contentious "Whereabouts Requirements" clause of the WADA Anti-Doping Code, the ICC has assured its member boards that the dope testing programme would be "reasonable".

"The ICC has stressed at all IRTP (International Registered Testing Pool) education sessions, and continues to stress, that the ICC testing programme will be reasonable and that the majority of the Out-of-Competition testing will be based around team and FTP commitments and not whilst players are on holiday," ICC's Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat had written to its member boards some time ago.

But Lorgat had added a rider to this assurance saying the ICC must have the ability to test any cricketer at any time of the day and on any day for effective implementation of WADA's Anti-Doping Code to which it is a signatory.

"However, it is a fundamental requirement in any effective anti-doping regime (as well as a condition of compliance with the Code) that the ICC must have the ability to test any cricketer at any time on any day", he had said.

Explaining further the ICC CEO had said this was for a number of sporting reasons that included placing a deterrent on any doping practice in any off-season.

Lorgat explained that research into the fight against doping in sport has indicated that all sportsmen and women were most at risk of engaging in doping practices when they were not playing.

"The longer cricketers are away from their team and the longer their holiday the more at risk they become. This risk increases significantly if they are aware that they cannot be located", he had said in his communication. 

Admitting the provision of such information impinged on the privacy of players whilst they were away from their cricketing activities, Lorgat had said it was "a fundamental requirement of implementing a fair, equitable and effective anti-doping programme to protect the overwhelming majority of cricketers who are clean". 

Top Indian cricketers who are in the IRTP, a list that includes champion batsman Sachin Tendulkar and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, have raised apprehensions about this controversial clause, saying it invaded their privacy, and have thus far refused to sign the Code.