LONDON, May 10: The career of Warwickshire wicket-keeper Keith Piper is hanging by a thread after he was suspended for failing a drugs test. Warwickshire confirmed the suspension on Monday, which follows the news last week that he had tested positive during their Championship match against Hampshire at Edgbaston last month.

The 35-year-old Piper will appear before an England & Wales Cricket Board disciplinary panel later this week after testing positive for a recreational drug. A statement from Warwickshire declared: “The club are now in a position to confirm that the England & Wales Cricket Board have received formal notification from UK Sport that Keith Piper has provided a positive test sample for a banned substance.

“The player will attend an ECB hearing on Thursday of this week. “The player has been suspended pending the outcome of the hearing, after which a formal statement will be issued to clarify the situation.”

If the panel finds against him, Piper’s career would likely be over as he has already failed an internally-conducted drugs test, in 1997, for which he served a one-match ban. Piper is the third Warwickshire player to be in such a position.

Paul Smith and Graham Wagg have also served drugs-related bans. Last season Wagg was given a 15-month ban by the ECB after testing positive for cocaine, and suffered a double blow when his Warwickshire contract was duly terminated.—AFP