Tharanga tests positive for banned drug

Monday, 30 May 2011 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

(Reuters) - Sri Lanka opening batsman Upul Tharanga tested positive for an banned substance at this year's World Cup, an International Cricket Council (ICC) source told Reuters on Sunday.

Left-hander Tharanga scored two centuries in the tournament co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and was the fifth highest run-getter.

He has played 15 tests and 121 one-day internationals and scored 12 international centuries.

"We have not had any contact from the ICC and we are waiting to hear from them," Nishantha Ranatunga, the secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket, told Reuters from Colombo. "If this is true I expect we will hear from them soon."

An ICC spokesman declined to comment.

Sri Lanka's Sunday Times said Tharanga had claimed he was prescribed prednisolone by an alternative medicine practitioner who had treated other cricketers in the past. Prednisolone, a corticosteroid, is on the WADA banned list.