Cricketers spared ‘whereabouts’ rigours in ICC code

DUBAI, (Reuters) – The International Cricket  Council (ICC) has tabled an anti-doping code it says satisfies  WADA’s ‘whereabouts’ rule but will not force many elite  cricketers to provide information on their location away from  the game. According to an excerpt of a draft code forwarded to  Reuters yesterday, member nations’ 11 top-ranked one-day  international cricketers on a “National Player Pool” would only  need to provide “cricket whereabouts information” rather than  their personal whereabouts at all times. The more rigorous application of the rule — including  compelling athletes to nominate their whereabouts for an hour  every day over a quarterly period — would only apply to  cricketers placed on a registered testing pool.These would be confined to players with past doping  offences, those unfit or with injuries that sideline them for  at least three months and those demoted from the National  Player Pool for whereabouts-related violations.