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The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday (May 17) announced that South African batter Zubayr Hamza has been suspended from all cricket-related activities for nine months after admitting to an anti-doping rule violation under the ICC Anti-Doping Code.
Hamza provided an out-of-competition sample on 17 January 2022 in Paarl, South Africa, in which the prohibited substance Furosemide - which is a specified substance in Section S5 of the 2022 WADA Prohibited List - was found.
He admitted the violation and, having established no significant fault or negligence on his part, a nine-month period of ineligibility has been imposed, backdated to 22 March 2022, the date that Hamza accepted a provisional suspension. The effect of this suspension is that Hamza will be eligible to return to cricket on 22 December 2022.
In addition, all of Hamza’s individual performances between 17 January and 22 March 2022 have been disqualified.
Alex Marshall, ICC General Manager – Integrity Unit said: “The ICC is committed to keeping cricket clean and has a zero-tolerance approach to doping. It is also a timely reminder to all international cricketers that they remain responsible for anything they put into their bodies, to know exactly what medication they are taking so as to ensure it does not contain a prohibited substance and does not result in an anti-doping rule violation.”
Talking about his numbers, the right-handed batter has played six test matches for his country and has scored a total of 212 runs. Hamza plays at an average of 17.67 and he has already stroked a fifty with his highest score being 62 runs. In ODIs, the 26-year-old has played only one match and has stroked 56 runs at a strike rate of 70.89.
The right-handed batter from Cape Town made his Test debut against Pakistan at the Wanderers Stadium in January 2019 and as mentioned above, played his last Test match against New Zealand. Hamza has only played one ODI match against the Netherlands at the SuperSport Park in November 2021.
Hamza shot into the limelight after he became the fourth-youngest batsman in South Africa to score a double hundred in a first-class game. Representing the Western Province, the right-handed batter achieved that feat in October 2014 against Namibia.
