Shoaib and Asif cleared

The PCB anti-doping appeal committee has overturned the bans imposed on Pakistan fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif for testing positive for nandrolone.

Shoaib was suspended for two years and Asif for one year after they tested positive for nandrolone while preparing for October's Champions Trophy.

Chairperson Fakhruddin Ibrahim, a retired judge, said: "This appeal committee...holds that Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif will not be deemed to have committed a doping offence. The ban and punishment imposed by the earlier tribunal is hereby set aside as being contrary to the provision of laws."

Both players are free to play in next year's World Cup, although it remains to be seen how the International Cricket Council will react to today's decision.

Had 31-year-old Shoaib's appeal to a Pakistan Cricket Board tribunal proved unsuccessful, many feared it could have spelt the end of the line for the `Rawalpindi Express' in international cricket.

Shoaib and 23-year-old Asif provided positive samples in independent tests on 19 players, carried out by the PCB.

The board swiftly announced suspensions for the bowlers, both of whom were at pains to stress they would never knowingly take banned substances.

The punishment was confirmed by a three-member panel comprising barrister Shahid Hamid, former Pakistan captain Intikhab Alam and medical expert Waqar Ahmed.

Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq responded by calling for the bans to be reduced - warning that otherwise he feared for Shoaib's cricketing future.

"If Shoaib's ban is not reduced it will be very difficult for him to come back," Inzamam said last month. It would be difficult for anyone who is 30-plus and out of the game for two years to come back from that kind of ban, not just him."