Andre Russell: If I get a ban then definitely I’m out of cricket

Andre Russell was legally charged by Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) in March 2016 after failing to submit his whereabouts between January and July 2015.

Jamaican all-rounder Andre Russell is currently on the edge of getting banned from playing cricket because of missing out on filing his whereabouts on three occasions in 2015. Although he is hoping and praying for not getting banned by the independent anti-doping tribunal. The verdict is going to come on Tuesday in Kingston. If Russell is found guilty, he may get banned for two years under the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules. Russell missed three dope tests in the span of 12-months under WADA terms.

As reported by Jamaican Observer, Russell reacted to the matter by saying, “It’s been stressing and hard playing cricket and all that’s in the back of your head. But at the end of the day you have to do what you have to do. It’s like a big cloud over my head. If I get a ban then definitely I’m out of cricket [during the period of the suspension]; I mean all formats. So I’d just love to know I’m back and I can represent Jamaica Tallawahs, West Indies, and all the other teams I play for in the world.” ALSO READ: Andre Russell’s doping case verdict expected on January 31

“Honestly, I’m being positive and I haven’t been thinking about anything else that I want to do apart from playing cricket; doing what I love. I have so many fans out there and they would be disappointed, just as I would be. I just want to remain positive at the moment. I think I can [avoid a suspension] with the help of God; I think it’s out of my control, so I just have to wait on what happens on Tuesday,” said Russell.

Russell was legally charged by Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) in March 2016 after failing to submit his whereabouts between January and July 2015. As per JADCO, Russell had to submit whereabouts on January 1, July 1 and July 25 in 2015. Despite reminders over mail, phone, letters, Russell did not submit it.

The three-member tribunal comprising Hugh Faulkner, Dr. Marjorie Vassell and Dixeth Palmer, a former Jamaica cricketer, has been deliberating on the case for a long time and even delayed the original verdict date last December.

Russell recently had to pull himself out of Big Bash League because of his left hamstring injury and is currently recovering.

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