New South Wales cricketer Graeme Rummans' hearing before an Australian Cricket Board (ACB) committee is under way in Melbourne.

The 25-year-old is facing the three-person Anti-Doping Committee following the return of a positive test to the banned masking agent probenecid before a training session with the New South Wales state squad in December last year.

If ultimately found to have acted inappropriately, Rummans faces the possibility of a maximum two-year ban from all cricket conducted under the auspices of the ACB and the six state associations in Australia.

But the committee also has the power to either clear Rummans of any offence or to reduce his sentence under guidelines that allow the severity of any punishment to be relaxed where extenuating medical circumstances exist.

Former Western Australian paceman Duncan Spencer is the only player to have previously been outed from the sport in Australia following the return of a positive drug test. In a case heard in April of last year, he was barred from participating in international and interstate cricket for a period of 18 months in the wake of his use of the banned steroid nandrolone.

Rummans' hearing began at 4:30pm AEDT and is expected to proceed for several hours.

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