Dubai/Karachi, Feb. 16 : The ICC has briefed the Pakistan and Sri Lanka players, backroom staff and officials on the new ICC Anti-Doping Code (2009) which came into effect on January 1,2009.

The code has several changes from the ICC's previous anti-doping regulations, including the adoption of the International Registered Testing Pool (IRTP), made up of the leading players (according to the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings) from each of the top eight ranked ODI teams.

Those players selected in the IRTP are required to provide additional information about their whereabouts throughout the year in order that the ICC can implement an effective out-of-competition testing programme in line with the requirements of the WADA Code 2009.

Lorinda Rugless, the ICC's Anti-Doping and Member Services Manager, conducted the briefings in Lahore (on Thursday 12 February) and Karachi (on Sunday 15 February) and afterwards said: "While it remains the responsibility of ICC Member Boards, as it has always been, to educate their cricketers about general matters of anti-doping and the application of the ICC Anti-Doping Code 2009, these session and others that will follow are aimed at highlighting the key changes to the ICC Anti-Doping Code (2009) and educating those players who have been selected in the IRTP about their additional obligations.

"The scope of the new ICC Anti-Doping Code (2009) has been extended so that cricketers are subject to testing at any time, on any day of the year, whether at ICC events, bilateral series or out of competition. It is therefore important that all players and support personnel understand the changes and their new responsibilities.

"Sessions such as this are a chance for everyone to hear first hand what is expected of them and to ask questions. There was a good, healthy dialogue and hopefully all those present will have found it to be a useful exercise," she added.

Commenting on the session, ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said: "The new ICC Anti-Doping Code is an important step forward for the sport of cricket and we're delighted that the PCB and SLC have actively coordinated these sessions.

"Our aim is simple, and that is to ensure fair play in a clean sport. We have a zero-tolerance approach to doping and we are proud of the fact that since we began testing at our events in 2002, we've never had an anti-doping rule violation arising at any of those events.

"We want it to stay that way and this new code is a means of ensuring that it also extends the testing regime to meet the highest standards of international practice," he added.

While the Pakistan team was briefed in Lahore on Friday, the Sri Lanka team was briefed on the additional responsibilities for those of its players selected in the IRTP on Sunday in Karachi.

And within the next two months, the ICC expects to arrange face-to-face training for all of those players selected in the IRTP. Thereafter, it will make additional training, education, materials and guidance available to all Members and players requiring further assistance, including having a presence at the ICC World Twenty20 in June 2009.

While it remains the responsibility of all Members to brief their players on the ICC Anti-Doping Code (2009), ICC staff will also be available to talk through the key changes in the code to any team taking part in next month's ICC Women's World Cup 2009 in Australia and April's ICC World Cup Qualifier in South Africa.

The ICC became a signatory of WADA in July 2006 and the ICC Anti-Doping Code (2009), unanimously incorporated by the ICC Executive Board, indicates an overwhelming level of support for a zero-tolerance approach to drugs within the game of cricket.

In a further move aimed at bolstering the anti-doping movement in the sport of cricket, the ICC, towards the end of 2008, circulated a template anti-doping code for all of its Members to adapt in order to help them govern anti-doping matters at a domestic level in a consistent and WADA Code-compliant manner. (ANI)