Pakistan doping appeal adjourned

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The committee hearing an appeal by fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif against doping bans has adjourned the case until next Monday.

The adjournment was granted because Shoaib's lawyer is awaiting documents from the Pakistan Cricket Board.

Shoaib was banned for two years and Asif for 12 months after both tested positive for a performance enhancing steroid, nandrolone.

Both players insist they did not knowingly take the drug.

And it has been claimed that there may have been traces of nandrolone in nutritional supplements they were using.

The appeals are being heard by a three-man panel, including retired judge Fakhruddin Ibrahim, former Test player Hasib Ahsan and Dr Danish Zaheer.

They are being assisted by London-based lawyer Mark Gay, who represented national team captain Inzamam-ul-Haq at a disciplinary hearing in September following the controversial finish to the Oval Test against England.

Ibrahim said that despite the adjournment, they still hoped to conclude the case "as early as possible".

The International Cricket Council, meanwhile, has confirmed that all drug tests carried out during the recent Champions Trophy in India were negative.

Samples from 24 tests were submitted for analysis at a laboratory in Malaysia.

"The fact all the tests have been negative is great news for our sport," said ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed.

"It confirms cricket's reputation for being low risk when it comes to drug use but that does not mean the ICC, or any of our members, can afford to be complacent in this area.

"To this end, five of our full members - Australia, England, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa - are already testing outside of ICC events and West Indies is set to join that list in the near future."

He added: "We should never forget that cricketers are role models and they need to send out the right messages to the public, and that is one of the reasons why we must continue to have a zero tolerance on drug use."