KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC) – Patrick Foster QC, counsel for banned West Indies Twenty20 star Andre Russell, says he is disappointed that the player’s one-year suspension was not made retroactive, but is also “grateful” the disciplinary panel did not impose the maximum two-year penalty.
Russell was slapped with a 12-month ban on Tuesday after the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission found him guilty of an anti-doping whereabouts violation, committed back in 2015.
The ban ruled the globetrotting Russell out of several major Twenty20 tournaments, but Foster said JADCO had not entertained the idea of making the ban retroactive.
“The only concern I had which I can raise at this point was the penalty to start running at an earlier date and the panel was not prepared to consider it at this point,” Foster said afterwards.
“They said that they were functus (expired) and it was a matter for the appeals panel to deal with.”
He added: “Naturally I’m disappointed [by the ban] but as I said before, I am somewhat grateful it’s not for two years. They seemed to have injected some mercy in the process even though I did not agree with the decision.”
Between January 1, 2015 and September 30, 2015, Russell failed to report his whereabouts, resulting in three missed drugs tests.
More in today’s Daily Observer.