ICC bans Brendan Taylor for anti-corruption, doping breaches

Brendan Taylor, the former Zimbabwean men's cricket captain, has been banned for three and a half years for breaching corruption rules centred on failing to report approaches from possible spot-fixers and also for a doping offence, according to a statement and corruption and doping decisions rendered by the International Cricket Council ('ICC').

The ban ends what had been a distinguished career for a player representing an embattled cricketing nation and comes after Taylor, 36, himself, had revealed the impending decision days earlier via his own social media channels.

Taylor accepted the five offences levelled at him, four against the ICC Anti-Corruption Code ("Corruption Code") and one against the ICC Anti-Doping Code ('Doping Code'), including the sanction handed down by the ICC, thus forgoing any need to have the matter heard before the ICC Anti-Corruption Tribunal.

Specifically, Taylor was charged, found guilty of and accepted sanctions for the following offences under the Corruption Code.

Article 2.4.2 – Failing to disclose (without unnecessary delay) the receipt of any gift, payment, hospitality or other benefit that (a) the participant knew or should have known was given to them to procure a breach of the Code or (b) that was made or given in circumstances that could bring the participant or the sport of cricket into disrepute.

Article 2.4.3 - Failing to disclose to the ACU (without unnecessary delay) receipt of gifts/hospitality with a value of US$750 or more regardless of the circumstances in which they were given.

Article 2.4.4 – Failing to disclose to the ACU (without unnecessary delay) full details of the approach received to engage in corrupt conduct under the Code including in relation to Zimbabwe’s then upcoming series against Sri Lanka and/or Bangladesh.

Article 2.4.7 – obstructing or delaying an ACU investigation, including concealing, tampering with or destroying any documentation or other information that may be relevant to that investigation and/or that may be evidence of or may lead to the discovery of evidence of corrupt conduct under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.

ICC General Manager - Integirty Unit Mr Alex Marshall expressed the ICC's disappointment with Taylor's conduct in an official statement.

"Over such a long career, he participated in numerous anti-corruption and anti-doping education sessions and knew exactly what his obligations were under the ICC Anti-Corruption and Anti-Doping Codes," Mr Marshall said whilst encouraging "other players to report approaches as soon as they happen so any corrupt activity can be disrupted at the earliest possible opportunity."

ICC Doping Decision

The separate charge under the Doping Code (Article 2.1) resulted from the presence of Benzoylecgonine, a cocaine metabolite, detected in an in-competition test following his country's match against Ireland on 8 September 2021.

Taylor has only received the minimum one-month ban for that offence under the Doping Code because of the circumstances leading to the adverse finding, including the non-performance enhancing element and that he had agreed to enter a three-month residential rehabilitation treatment programme. In the days prior to the release of the sanction, Taylor had admitted that he had battled substance abuse throughout his career.

According to the ICC's anti-doping decision, on 14 December 2021, Mr Taylor wrote to the ICC. He provided his written explanation in response to the positive test, stating that he had ingested cocaine on 5 September 2021, three days before he provided his sample, for recreational purposes.

On 12 January 2022, Mr Taylor was informed that upon careful review of his explanation, the ICC was satisfied that he had established that the ingestion of cocaine as asserted occurred out-of-competition and was unrelated to sports performance. Therefore, per Doping Code Article 10.2.4.1, the applicable period of ineligibility in his case was three months, which could be further reduced to one month if he were to satisfactorily complete a substance of abuse treatment programme approved by the ICC.

As Taylor agreed to these conditions, the one month period of ineligibility was confirmed, although it makes little difference to his overall three and a half year ban.

ICC v Mr Brendan Taylor (Decision of the ICC under the ICC Anti-Doping Code) dated 28 January 2022