Maynard’s death: ECB to step up tests

County cricketers will be tested more regularly for recreational drugs in response to the confirmation that Tom Maynard had been taking cocaine and ecst-asy the night before he died last June — and may have been a regular cocaine user for months — at Tuesday’s inquest into the death of the former Surrey batsman.

County cricketers will be tested more regularly for recreational drugs in response to the confirmation that Tom Maynard had been taking cocaine and ecst-asy the night before he died last June — and may have been a regular cocaine user for months — at Tuesday’s inquest into the death of the former Surrey batsman.

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Surrey recommended “a more comprehensive social drug-testing programme” to the England and Wales Cricket Board last summer after conducting their own inquiry into the circumstanc-es leading to Maynard's death, and have since signed the hugely respected South Africa capta-in Graeme Smith and several oth-er senior players in a clear attem-pt to change their club’s culture.

Fiona Wilcox, the coroner, asked Surrey's chief executive, Richard Gould, who represented the club at the inquest, whether hair analysis had been used to detect the use of recreational drugs. When told it was not, she said: “I wonder if it could begin, and should begin more generally in the sports world.”

The ECB has previously tested for recreational drugs only “in competition” — between 6am on the first day of a match until an hour after its completion — with its “out-of-competition testing” only for performance-enhancing drugs, compliant with the WADA code.