Alex Hales banned for 21 days by ECB for recreational drug use

England batsman Alex Hales who has been named in the 15-man provisional World Cup squad has failed the drugs test. He has been for 21 days after returning positive in the test for the second time. He had also pulled out of Nottinghamshire’s ongoing domestic One-Day Cup campaign for personal reasons. This is another black mark now in Hales’ career as he was earlier involved in the Bristol brawl along with Ben Stokes.

According to the Guardian, the drugs violation was detection after the cricketer underwent a routine hair follicle test which is mandatory for the professional men and the centrally contracted women cricketers. The test is conducted at the start and end of every season and the policy was introduced back in 2013.

By the time, the World Cup starts, Alex Hales would’ve served his suspension and the cricketer, despite the ban, is expected to join England‘s training camp at the weekend.

What is the policy?

If it is the first offence, it is treated as a health and welfare issue and the players offered advice and support. Only the county director is notified in this case. The second violation, which Alex Hales has done, leads to a three-week ban and five percent fine of the player’s annual salary. The player’s county, ECB chief executive, Tom Harrison, and PCA chief executive, David Leatherdale are informed about the same in this case.

The third time offence which was done by Durham’s Jack Burnham in 2017 leads to the dismissal. Though in Burnham’s case, the club chose to ban him for 12 months and gave him another chance to revive his career. As for Hales, no decision taken yet and it remains to be seen if the selectors leave him out of the World Cup squad with Jason Roy also injured at the moment.

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