ICC lifts Kusal Perera's provisional suspension after botched analysis

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced that it has withdrawn disciplinary charges against Sri Lanka batsman Kusal Perera and lifted the provisional suspension previously imposed on him.

Perera is, therefore, now free to return to domestic and international cricket without restriction and with immediate effect.

The ICC has made the decision after the WADA-accredited laboratory in Qatar on Wednesday withdrew its original Adverse Analytical Finding following further investigations.

In November 2015, the Qatar laboratory reported to the ICC that urine samples collected out-of-competition from Sri Lankan international player, Kusal Perera, had tested positive for 19-Norandrostenedione, an anabolic steroid prohibited under WADA's Prohibited List.

In a recent letter, Perera's lawyers provided an update on their investigation into potential sources of the 19-Norandrostenedione found in his samples, but also suggested for the first time that the Qatar laboratory might have misidentified impurities in the samples as 19-Norandrostenedione, given the very low concentrations of that substance found in the samples.

In response, the ICC commissioned an independent expert to review all of the Qatar laboratory's findings. Whilst the independent expert concluded that the Qatar laboratory had correctly identified 19-Norandrostenedione in the samples, that expert's view was that an adverse analytical finding by the laboratory was not sustainable, because, for various scientific and technical reasons, it could not be ruled out that the 19-Norandrostenedione was produced naturally in the player's body and/or formed in the samples after the player provided them.

These concerns were immediately presented by the ICC to the Qatar laboratory, which has today confirmed that it has withdrawn the Adverse Analytical Finding and is instead reporting an Atypical Finding. It has advised that no specific further investigation of the player's two samples is warranted, but has recommended the monitoring of the player's steroid profile moving forward.

As a result, the ICC has immediately withdrawn the disciplinary proceedings previously brought against Perera, and he is therefore free to train and compete domestically and internationally again without restriction with immediate effect.