KINGSTON, Aug 25: The chief executive officer of International Cricket Council (ICC), Malcolm Speed has warned all those cricketers participating in the next year's Cricket World Cup in the West Indies that they face stiff penalties if found using performance-enhancing substances.

With the ICC formally adopting World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code last month, Speed asserted that there could be no doubt about the seriousness of the cricket body's intentions regarding drug use in cricket.

“The fact that we now test at ICC events, it would be very foolish for players to take performance-enhancing drugs. We see athletes who are subject to a very strict regime of testing still perform in a very foolish way and they are caught. I don't believe it would be any different for cricketers,” he told The Gleaner newspaper.

Dr. Warren Blake, a local WADA representative, welcomed that ICC has now signed the WADA code of conduct, which he claims, “seeks to level playing field across all sports”.“I always thought it was unfair for two persons from same country to be treated differently just because one participates in a sport that abides by WADA code and other does not,” he said.

But, according to Speed, ICC has had strict anti-doping measures at all its major championships for several years, starting with the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand, in 2002. Subsequently, he said, the same regime was used for senior World Cup in South Africa in 2003, ICC Champions Trophy in England and 2005 Super Series in Australia.

The first official application of WADA testing rules by ICC will be at Champions Trophy in India in October/ November, followed by World Cup in the West Indies next March.

Dr. Blake will be part of a medical team that will conduct the drug tests during Jamaica leg of the World Cup. “We, in conjunction with international body, will now decide who to test and how many tests will be done”, he said.—Agencies