ECB beef up drug testing for Hundred

The ECB will significantly bolster their drug-testing regime ahead of the hundred this year amid concerns the premium placed on power-hitting in the new format will increase the temptation for potential dopers. Many of the world’s leading cricketers, including Steve Smith, Kane Williamson and england stars Joe Root and Ben Stokes, have signed up to play in the eight-team, city-based tournament, which will feature the most extensive anti-doping programme in domestic cricket. The ECB conduct more drugs tests than any other domestic cricket board, with in excess of 350 taking place last summer, a figure which will increase significantly this year.

Anti-doping officials will conduct targeted tests for human growth hormone and steroids in particular, on the basis that the former can be used to increase power and the latter to boost recovery.

Fewer drugs tests take place in cricket than in other sports, with the FA conducting 4,436 in 2018 in comparison to 323 carried out by the ECB, although such figures partially reflect the different scale of the two sports. The discrepancy

also stems from the historic assumption that performanceenhancing drugs are less of an issue in cricket that in athletic-based sports, although the head of the global players’ union, Tony Irish, has warned that this is not necessarily the case. The huge rise in the number of global Twenty20 leagues in particular, offering greater rewards and the possibility of players flying all over the world to compete for different franchises, has made the sport more vulnerable to corruption. To compound this problem, some Twenty20 leagues do not conduct any drug-testing at all. ‘Cricket is not immune from doping risks,’ said Irish. ‘Rather than international cricket, we see the risks lying more across the T20 leagues where there is no consistent regulatory framework and no consistent education of players.’ In addition to more rigorous drug-testing, the ECB will assign an anti-corruption official to each of the eight Hundred teams for the duration of the competition.