Veteran Australian T20 batter Chris Lynn has been served a one-month ban for cocaine use in August and has since undergone a rehabilitation programme, the independent Cricket Regulator of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has revealed.
As per reports, Lynn underwent a standard anti-doping test on T20 Blast Finals Day on July 18, when he scored 39 and 4 as Northamptonshire lifted the trophy for the third time. His urine sample was sent to a laboratory in France, which confirmed the presence of benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine.
Lynn travelled to Sri Lanka to play in the Lanka Premier League straight after the Blast, but was ruled out by an unspecified leg injury on July 29, having made a single appearance for Galle Gallants. Two days later, the Cricket Regulator notified him of the adverse analytical finding and he was provisionally suspended.
Three weeks later, Lynn admitted using cocaine during a period of several hours across the evening of 15 July 2026 and into the early hours of 16 July 2026. Earlier that evening, he had been forced to retire hurt in Northants’ quarter-final win over Gloucestershire after being struck on the foot by a low full-toss from Duan Jansen.
The Regulator accepted Lynn’s assertion that the drug use occurred out of competition and was unrelated to sporting performance.
He was initially charged under two articles of the ECB’s anti-doping rules, but one charge was later dropped because the level of cocaine in his sample was below the minimum required for a charge under World Anti-Doping Agency rules.
The Regulator had initially intended to suspend Lynn for three months, but reduced the ban to one month after he provided confirmation that he had completed a “substance of abuse treatment programme”. The programme was deemed complete on August 30, a month after the start of his provisional suspension.
Lynn has not played professional cricket since the start of his ban. He has yet to officially sign for the upcoming Big Bash League season, where he first made his name as a destructive six-hitter, but Code Sports reported this week that he has agreed to join Melbourne Renegades.
