How Green Was My Cricket Pitch: Drugs Scandal Hits The Game

My favourite cricketer when growing-up was the England and Derbyshire wicket-keeper Bob Taylor. His enjoyment of the game shone through, allowing him to fulfil the glovemen's role as the soul of the team. His determination to play the game as it should be played made him a hero that my parents and sports teacher could approve of. In the 5th Test at Adelaide in 1979, he walked on 97 for a thin leg-side edge through to the keeper, denying him what would have been his only test century. He was a cricketer that GK Chesterton's Great Scorer would have approved of.

Years later I heard him despairing of the decline in sportmanship in cricket, stating that in particular the batsman's refusal to walk led to him to retire from the game. I wonder what he thinks of the latest scandal to hit the sport. Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Asif have both tested positive for nandrolone, an anabolic steriod. Akhtar protests his innocence, but a procession of guilty atheletes attempting to protray themseleves as the victim means that he will not be believed.

The ICC need to investigate the medical teams supporting the players, nandrolone is not something that you get without a prescription, it is not something that a cricketer is likely to take without consulting their doctor. A single international panel of approved doctors, who rate the Hippocratic oathe above national success, would solve the problem.