The ICC on Tuesday suspended South African batter Zubayr Hamza from all cricket-related activities for a span of 9 months after he confessed to an anti-doping rule contravention under the apex body’s anti-doping code.
Hamza gave an out-of-competition sample on 17th January 2022 in Paarl, South Africa, in which the disallowed substance Furosemide – which is a specified substance in Section S5 of the 2022 WADA Prohibited List – was identified.
He confessed the violation and, having established no significant fault or laxity on his part, a nine-month period of disqualification has been inflicted, backdated to 22nd March 2022, the date that Hamza bear a provisional suspension.
The effect of this suspension is that Hamza will be qualified to return to cricket on 22nd December 2022.
Furthermore, all of Hamza’s individual performances between 17th January to 22nd March 2022 have been debarred.
Hamza has so far played 6 Tests and 1 ODI for South Africa and with the ICC’s latest sanctions, he would miss out on a total of 31 runs (25 and 6) which he stroke for SA in a Test game versus the New Zealand at Christchurch between 17-19 February.
ICC GM (Integrity Unit) Alex Marshall stated, “The ICC is committed to keeping cricket clean and has a zero-tolerance approach to doping.”
“It is also a timely reminder to all international cricketers that they remain responsible for anything they put into their bodies, to know exactly what medication they are taking so as to ensure it does not contain a prohibited substance and does not result in an anti-doping rule violation.”
