South African cricket boss Andrew Breetzke called Tim Paine ‘naive' for criticism of the handling of Kagiso Rabada's drug ban.
South African cricket boss Andrew Breetzke has defended the process which allowed fast bowler Kagiso Rabada to serve just a one-month ban for a positive drug test allowing him to take on Australia in the World Test Championship final calling critics including Tim Paine 'naive'.
Rabada tested positive to an illicit substance during the SA T20 competition in January, but was allowed to play on before being sent home form the Indian Premier League for 'personal reasons'.
It was then revealed Rabada was in fact serving a ban for the positive test result, a ban which ended almost before anyone knew it existed.
The process moved
Paine to say 'it stinks'
with Rabada now able to line-up against Australia at Lords in June.
But Breetzke was adamant the rules were followed to the letter and those outside the bubble should have refrained from making guesses.
'The criticism that's coming from Australia is somewhat naive and lacks understanding of how doping processes are managed,' he told SportsBoom.
'Effectively, he (Rabada) was notified on the first of April of the positive test, and we consulted with him on the 1st of April for the first time. In accordance with the SAIDS and WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) rules, there is a clear process that follows out of that, and we started that process immediately with him flying back to South Africa, getting the legal team together, the medical experts together and started the process relative to the rules.
'That's exactly how it played out. It played out as it must in terms of the rules. When someone tests positive for substance of abuse, the rules are pretty clear, if it's taken in competition, it's a two year suspension, if you can prove it's out of competition you can get it down to three months and if you go into a designated counselling program you can get it down to one month.'
'We ticked off those boxes, and that's how the process unfolded over the month of April. It was professionally dealt with, and KG was absolutely professional, open and honest in the process, which is why we were able to do it within that time frame.'
Breetzke said there was no questions raised about the integrity of the investigation or the handling of Rabada's suspension.
'In cricket, there aren't many doping cases. We've had six cases in South Africa in probably the last ten years,' he said.
'All players every year go through anti-doping education through us. That's standard. Integrity in cricket is based on two elements: there's the anti-doping regulations and there's the anti-corruption regulations. In the list of high-risk sports in doping, cricket is not high on this.'
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