{"id":32943,"date":"2026-04-24T17:26:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T15:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=32943"},"modified":"2026-04-24T17:26:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T15:26:06","slug":"new-zealands-bracewell-handed-two-year-ban-after-testing-positive-for-cocaine","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/new-zealands-bracewell-handed-two-year-ban-after-testing-positive-for-cocaine\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand&#8217;s Bracewell handed two-year ban after testing positive for cocaine"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"x_x_ms-outlook-mobile-signature\">\n<div>Former New Zealand international Doug Bracewell has been handed a two-year suspension \u200bafter testing positive for cocaine before his \u200cretirement from all cricket last year, England&#8217;s Cricket Regulator said this Friday.<\/div>\n<div>\nThe 35-year-old all-rounder, who \u200bretired from all forms of cricket \u200bin December after finishing his career in \u2060England with Essex, played 69 times \u200bfor New Zealand\u00a0across formats, including 28 tests.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Bracewell \u200btested positive for cocaine and its metabolite, benzoylecgonine, in an in\u2011competition sample taken on September 25, 2025, the regulator said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Cocaine is classified \u200bas a prohibited substance under the England and Wales \u200cCricket \u2060Board\u2019s (ECB) anti-doping regulations.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Essex confirmed in a statement that he had failed a drug test.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;While the Club does not condone Bracewell&#8217;s \u200bbehaviour, we are \u200bcommitted \u2060to supporting him through rehabilitation in line with our policies and \u200bprocedures,&#8221; Essex added.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Bracewell was also sanctioned \u200bin \u2060New Zealand in 2024 after testing positive for cocaine following a domestic Twenty20 match, \u2060for \u200bwhich he served a \u200bone-month suspension after completing a substance abuse treatment programme.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":32948,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-32943","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Cocaine is classified \u200bas a prohibited substance under the England and Wales \u200cCricket \u2060Board\u2019s (ECB) anti-doping regulations.","published_date":"","news_description":"Cocaine is classified \u200bas a prohibited substance under the England and Wales \u200cCricket \u2060Board\u2019s (ECB) anti-doping regulations.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32949,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32943\/revisions\/32949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=32943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}