Addressing presspersons gathered at the Taj Samudra in Colombo on Wednesday, the president of the International Cricket Council revealed that there would be a doping policy in place for the World Cup 2003.

"That is a requirement of the South African government," said ICC president Malcolm Gray. "The policy has been finalised, and the list of banned substances has been sent to the team around six weeks ago. They have been advised to ensure that there is no breach in the doping policy."

Gray said that it was possible that players in countries with no doping policies were using drugs. After the World Cup, the ICC will look into the modalities of working out on a doping policy of its own.

Gray addressed a variety of issues, including the much-talked-about problems in Zimbabwe, and the World Cup games to be played in that country.

"It is not up to the ICC or the cricket administrators to make judgments about political matters or foreign affairs matters; that is up to the governments, and elected officials make those decisions," he said.

Gray also revealed that the Cricket Committee - Management, which met 10 days ago, proposed that an advisory group travel to Zimbabwe to survey security and safety conditions. The CCM consists of Malcolm Speed, the chief executives of the Boards, player representatives, and a representative from the GCC (Global Cricket Corporation).

The ICC president strongly believes that the players should be represented.

"Not every country believes in it," he said. "It was also in Condon's report. It will make the administrators' lives easier. It is a lot easier for the ICC to deal with player representative bodies than deal with fragmented players right across the globe. I would hope that in the next few months, we at the ICC will deal with the issue, and we will listen to the wishes of the players.

Gray also said that there was a serious lack of communication between the ICC, the member boards and the players, which made the whole issue of player contracts a difficult one to resolve.

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