25 Jun 2011

Tharanga gets three-month ban for doping

6:58 am on 25 June 2011

Sri Lankan cricketer Upul Tharanga has been handed a three-month suspension for failing a doping test.

The 26-year-old left-handed batsman's urine sample was taken after this year's World Cup semi-final against New Zealand in Colombo at the end of March, and the International Cricket Council says it contained the banned substances prednisone and prednisolone.

Tharanga pleaded guilty to the offence at an early stage in the proceedings, though he claimed it came from a herbal remedy given to him to ease discomfort caused by a long-standing shoulder injury, which the ICC's tribunal accepted.