Shoaib and his steroids

Quotehanger

"There used to be a bloke who gave himself out by walking when he'd hit the ball. The popularity of that within his team-mates may be shown by the fact that since his retirement, they no longer reply to any emails, phone calls or text messages."
Adam Gilchrist gives a tongue-in-cheek response to his own philosophy of 'walking'

Oct 12, 2008

The headlines

The news

TWC

Related pieces

Search

Eat your feeds

Posts

Comments

Who will win the series?
- India
- Australia
- Drawn (0-0)
- Drawn (2-2)
- Abandoned due to poor behaviour
View Results
Loading ...

Polls Archive

Sponsors ?

Cricinfo blogs

Cricinfo articles

Scorecards

By Will 2 years ago, mid-October Leave a comment on this post

So then. What do we all think? Original story at Cricinfo if you don't know what's going on.

"I cannot say much at this time about what has happened but I just want to assure everyone that I am innocent of doing anything I shouldn't have," Shoaib told bigstarcricket.com. "The President of Pakistan has asked me not to comment in any detail at this stage and I want to respect his wishes, so I will keep my message short.

"All I can say is that I have not knowingly taken any performance-enhancing drugs and would never cheat my team-mates or opponents in this way. I have always played the game fair and I give 100 percent and do not feel that I need to take drugs to help my bowling."

And for what it's worth, The Times have a piece on nandrolone and its effects. Leave your thoughts on the whole mess below.

Tags: icc-champions-trophy, nandrolone, pakistan, shoaib-akhtar |

Comments to “Shoaib and his steroids” Alan R wrote:
October 16th, 2006 at 8.18 pm

I didn’t know Darrel Hair was doing lab work now.

Actually, it could be my fault. There seems to be some sort of steroid jinx on athletes I photograph:

Here’a photo I took in July:
http://tinyurl.com/teln9

and here’s one I took in August:
http://tinyurl.com/y26adw

This is sad news.

Of course I’m sort of used to this sort of thing, being originally from the San Francisco area, where they had the world’s best steroid lab until it got busted a few years ago.

Sean wrote:
October 16th, 2006 at 8.29 pm

You should have heard the rubbish Asif Iqbal was spouting on Five Live.

Cricket is a game of skill so it should be ok to take steriods. At least that’s what it sounded like.

Will wrote:
October 16th, 2006 at 9.02 pm

Tell us more Sean?

Another Collective member wrote:
October 16th, 2006 at 9.09 pm

I think you some it up best Will by describing it as a mess.

Cricket needs characters like Shoaib while Asif, as he showed in the summer, is a real talent. I hope they’e cleared - it wouldn’t be the first time that a ‘B’ sample had come back clean - but i fear the worst.

Even if they are cleared they will be tainted with the accusation from now on, and heaven knows Pakistani cricket doesn’t need more controversy at this moment in time.

Sean wrote:
October 16th, 2006 at 9.15 pm

Well I omitted the quotes as I was listening to the radio in the car and the reception was shite but the first part of the interview he said that there might be a perfectly good reason for the positive test - fair enough esp. as Asif tested positive as well.

However if the ICC has a Zero Tolerance policy against those who test positive then no reason other than a B sample that tests negative is good enough.

He then went on to say - assuming I heard it correctly - that - cricket is a game of skill not strength and you could argue that it should be ok for cricketers to take steriods.

Is this the same bloke who went on the record as saying that ball tampering should no longer be outlawed (genuine querstion, I don’t know)?

Can you get transcripts of interviews from the Beeb?

Harry R wrote:
October 16th, 2006 at 9.33 pm

There was always going to be a major cricket drug scandal sooner or later.

There have been enough odd results involving nandrolone that I wonder about the accuracy; but once the accusations start flying, it’s too late; no-one will ever be quite as trusting again.

Politicalhackuk wrote:
October 16th, 2006 at 10.05 pm

The ICC have said that it is a matter for the PCB to discipline the pair. I heard an interview earlier on Five Live (possibly Asif Iqbal) where the interviewee said that no action wasn’t acceptable and a ban wouldn’t be acceptable this close to the World Cup, so a fine would be in order.

Forgive me, wasn’t Shane Warne banned for a year for taking a proscribed drug? If the B sample comes back positive, then both deserve to be banned.

Another collective member wrote:
October 16th, 2006 at 11.57 pm

‘Shoaib and his Steroids’ sounds like it could be the name for Pete Doherty’s new band…

Jusrcoz wrote:
October 17th, 2006 at 1.33 am

With punishing schedules and increasing expectations the use of Nandralone (aids recovery) and EPO (allows sustained performance) are highly likely.

They are likely to be desired by players, whose livelihoods now rely on playing more consistently for longer periods. And “infrastructure” that always wants its best players on the field.

Did Shoaib/Asif take the drug? No idea… Would it have a difference to their recovery from injury? Absolutely. Does the PCB have a vested interest in their rapid recovery? You bet.

Does this all stink like Steve Harmison’s socks? We’ll find out.

And the feel good factor of the Ashes receeds further…

auvergne wrote:
October 17th, 2006 at 7.11 am

Wait another few days and General Musharaf will purge Asif Iqbal, and install a new spokesman in his place. Since it’s such a merry-go-round, I’m putting my money on Zaheer Abbas or Shahriyar Khan.

Eddie wrote:
October 17th, 2006 at 10.55 am

Am I the only one who is MORE suspicious that both of them tested positive?

Hardly surprising Akhter can bowl 100mph and is always being chucked out of teams for being an unbelievable arse if he’s been going about hopped up on industrial testosterone.

Omar wrote:
October 17th, 2006 at 2.15 pm

Surprising how the President of Pakistan always seems to have a live telephone line handy directly to any member of the cricket team that needs his counsel….

i’m giving both the benefit of doubt till we hear more.

Not that I am giving any excuses but here is what dude wrote on cricinfo’s blog. Here is blog http://blogs.cricinfo.com/pakspin/archives/2006/10/a_bad_board_blames_its_players.php#comments

“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandrolone
and from this I qoute “Urine analysis as a method of detecting nandrolone abuse has recently become somewhat controversial, following studies by the University of Aberdeen showing that the metabolite product can also show up in urine in quantities above the upper limit from a combination of high-protein diets utilising the legal nutritional supplement creatine and hard cardiovascular exercise” with both players recovering from injury, It wont be surprising if they were simply on a high protien diet.”

Sisya wrote:
October 18th, 2006 at 4.57 pm

Hmmmm……I always used to wonder where Shoaib got all his stamina from. Now I know.

hm wrote:
October 21st, 2006 at 12.36 am

To the genius who accuses shoaib of bowling at 100mph due to steriods.

Firstly nandrolone isn’t testostorone. Nandrolone metabolites can be from a Steriod or from a variaty of other supplements, some of which are legal even in the great police state of the USA.

Secondly Shoaib has been drug tested multiple times including during the World Cup where he bowled at 100mph and he has repeatedly come up clean. Hence he bowled that speed without any substances despite what all haters want to believe……

This time he didn’t and recovering from injury maybe he did or something did supply him with a nandrolone dirivative. You know you can test positive by taking legal supplements that are contaminated and your body can also produce the stuff naturally……….too many sportmen are getting positives for this test. You know HGH would have worked better as would have a whole bunch of other Steriods that will be out of your system within weeks, nandrolone stays in your system for months so why would they have taken that intentionally when other gear would have been the sensible option.

Oh and I take steriods cos I body build and know them very well and have took them for over a decade. You take Steriods, you pay a price, and in terms of health, they will catch up with you in the end………

Also lots of natural body builders, cyclists, and other sportsman take the right steriods and are clean prior to testing due to use of masking agents and or allowing their system to flush out the drug. Some sportsmen have even used a catheter to get somebody elses urine in to do the test believe it or not………..

Comments

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

« Wily fox Fleming | Main | West Indies beat Australia »

The Corridor (a cricket blog)

"Peering down the corridor of uncertainty. It’s about cricket, sport and journalism"