ICC provisionally suspends Zubayr Hamza for doping violation

Young South African batsman Zubayr Hamza has been handed a 'provisional suspension' by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for consuming a banned substance as per the anti-dopping code.

The ICC, on Friday, published a statement confirming that Hamza has been found guilty of consuming a banned substance called Furosemide. The same was detected following the collection of samples back in January.

The statement read:

"Hamza has been charged with the presence and/or use of a prohibited substance following the detection of Furosemide in a sample collected out-of-competition on 17 January 2022 and has been provisionally suspended pending the outcome of the disciplinary process," the ICC said in a statement. "Furosemide is a Specified Substance contained in Section S5 of the 2022 WADA Prohibited List."

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Cricket South Africa issued a statement where they started that Hamza isn't challenging the positive test and that he has accepted the temporary suspension.

CSA also asserted that the South African batsman is 'fully cooperating with the ICC while also adding that Furosemide is not a performance-enhancing drug.

"The process to follow will entail presenting evidence that there was no fault or negligence, or no significant fault or negligence on the part of Zubayr," the CSA statement said. "CSA, SACA [South African Cricketers' Association] and WPCA [Western Province Cricket Association] are supporting Zubayr in this process and will continue to do so until the matter is concluded," said CSA in a statement.

Hamza made his international debut against England during the 2019 summer. He has thus far represented the Proteas in 6 Tests and 1 ODI.

The 26-year-old was last seen in action during the recent Test series in New Zealand. He recently withdrew from the ODI and Test series against Bangladesh for personal reasons.