A few days ago, we were shocked when we read news of Laurie Evans being ruled out of the Big Bash League 2022/23 season. The shock was for multiple reasons – the major one being that Evans helped Perth Scorchers win the BBL 2021/22 season where he scored a Man of the Match award winning 76(41)* in the final of that season vs Sydney Sixers.
He’s a very travelled cricketer with contracts with several franchise clubs across the world, making him a very dangerous white ball specialist. So the news of Scorchers letting him go ahead of the BBL 12 season came as a shock. When we dug deeper, we understood that his contract was terminated because of a doping controversy that shook not just the Scorchers, but the Big Bash League itself.
Laurie Evans to miss BBL 12 because of doping test
As professional athletes, you are often subjected to doping tests to ensure you don’t get any unfair advantages over the others you are playing with. Over the decades, many cricketers have been caught in doping scandals including Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, Andre Russell, and England opening batsman Alex Hales, who was caught using recreational drugs which set back his international career many years.
It was only recently that Hales made a comeback to the national side, ending a 3-year exile. However, Evans’ case is a bit more severe as he was found to be using a banned substance, and not recreational drugs. The routine doping test was conducted in August but the news of him failing the test and being let go by Scorchers was a more recent one.
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The 35-year old was a very important part of the Scorchers side, playing 15 games for them in BBL 11, scoring 361 runs. The 4-time Big Bash champions Scorchers were quick to take action against this violation, immediately terminating his contract and earlier this month, roping in former South African captain Faf du Plessis as Evans’ replacement for BBL 12. Check out the complete BBL 2022/23 squads here.
“I was shocked to be told that an anti-doping sample I provided in August 2022 tested positive for trace amounts of a banned substance. I believe passionately in clean sport and I have never taken any banned substances. I do not know what caused the positive test but my team and I are investigating how this could have happened and I am doing everything possible to find out,” said Evans in a statement.
“Due to the confidentiality of the process, I cannot say any more at this stage but I would like to thank my family for supporting me at this very distressing time,” he added. It’s said that his Scorchers’ teammates are even reaching out and supporting him during this tough time. Evans is a T20 specialist and was last seen in action September 2022 in The Hundred in England.
He joins the likes of Phil Salt and Mitchell Marsh who are also unavailable for Scorchers for BBL 12, the duo being ruled out due to injuries. For similar news and updates from the Big Bash League and other cricket and sports news from around the world, stay tuned to ReadScoops.com.
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