Zeenews Sports Bureau
Sheffield: In the wake of Surrey batsman Tom Maynard’s death at the rail-tracks when it was revealed he had been using cocaine and ecstasy regularly in the three months leading up to the tragic accident, former England captain Michael Vaughan has called for more off-season drug tests.
Speaking to a leading British news channel, Vaughan said:
“If you had [drug testing] on a regular basis, there would be a starting point of potentially wiping it out completely.
“Where cricket has to be a little bit wary is if you`re just a county player, the season finishes in September and then you`re not playing a competitive game until April.
"We have to be wary that long periods of non-competitive action can lead to boredom. It`s a long time not to be competing and it`s a long time not to be tested. I do think out-of-season and out-of-competition drug testing would be a step forward."
He added that he didn’t believe the problem was rife in the sport, saying that out of 400 people, about 3-4 would be on the “wrong side of the game”. He also felt that the party-culture in certain parts of the country attributed to increased numbers of violators in clubs or counties of that region.
Surrey batsman Tom Maynard was only 23 when he died last June. An inquest on Tuesday heard that he was high on cocaine and ecstasy when he died and the jury ruled that his death was accidental after he was electrocuted on a live railway track before being hit by a train.
First Published: Thursday, February 28, 2013, 13:46