ICC amends anti-doping code

8220;In line with the amendments, the ICC now has a right of appeal if a member that is not WADA-compliant makes a decision which is inconsistent with the WADA code. Furthermore, while such an appeal is pending, the relevant players can be target tested by the ICC up to 60 days before one of our events.8221;

CAS, the apex court for judging on disputes in sports, rejected yesterday an appeal by WADA against the PCB8217;s overturning a doping ban on its fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif.

CAS said that it had no jurisdiction to rule in the case since the statutes of neither the ICC nor the PCB had a direct reference providing for an appeal to CAS in such matters.

Akhtar and Asif tested positive for nandrolone in an in-house testing programme by the PCB prior to the ICC Champions Trophy in India last October. Akhtar and Asif were subsequently banned for two and one year respectively, by a PCB Anti-Doping Commission in November.

But the decision was overturned and the sanctions imposed were revoked by Appeals Committee of the PCB, following which WADA decided to take the issue to CAS. The ICC is a signatory to the WADA code.

Hasnain, acting in the absence of ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed who was on leave, said the ICC was 8220;engaged in a robust campaign to make sure all our Members become WADA-compliant by 2009 at the latest.8221;