Zimbabwe cricketers Wessly Madhevere and Brandon Mavuta cleared for competitive return post suspension

Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) has given the green signal to Wessly Madhevere and Brandon Mavuta to return to competitive cricket after they completed their four-month suspensions for drug use.

Madhevere and Mavuta were suspended by Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) after they tested positive for a recreational drug in December last year. As part of the disciplinary action, the two cricketers were fined 50% of their salaries for three months, effective January 2024.

As part of their recovery process, Madhevere and Mavuta were instructed to undergo training as per Zimbabwe Cricket's high-performance program during their suspension period. After completing their suspensions, both players underwent drug tests, which they successfully cleared.

We're pleased to welcome Wessly and Brandon back to competitive cricket: ZC

They have now been cleared to resume playing competitive cricket. This announcement was confirmed by the managing director of Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC), Givemore Makoni, on Thursday, May 9. Notably, before their suspensions, Madhevere and Mavuta had last represented Zimbabwe during the home series against Ireland in December 2023.

Givemore Makoni said in an official statement: “I am pleased to welcome Wessly and Brandon back to competitive cricket after both of them underwent rehabilitation and also passed a drug test carried out to check if they were now clean. More importantly, the two players acknowledged their mistakes and have vowed to stay clean and focus on their very promising careers as cricketers.”

Apart from the suspension of the all-rounder duo, batter Kevin Kasuza has also faced immediate suspension from all forms of cricket after testing positive for a banned recreational drug in January. However, there has been no recent update from ZC regarding Kasuza's suspension status.

ZC started an in-house drug testing programme

Meanwhile, in the same statement released by ZC, the board said that they have implemented their own anti-drug program independently of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to address the issue.

Makoni stated: “Recognising the dangers that recreational drugs may cause, ZC opted to go beyond the ICC and WADA obligations by implementing an in-house drugs testing programme. This is a very important initiative that should be hailed for providing education, counselling and treatment, where appropriate, to rehabilitate players who have become involved with social drugs.”

Additionally, the statement also revealed that Davis Murwendo, a player from the ZC Academy, tested positive for a recreational drug during their recent internal testing. Murwendo is scheduled to attend a hearing regarding his offense soon.

Notably, the Zimbabwe cricket team is currently on the Bangladesh tour, where they are playing a five-match T20I series against the Tigers. However, the Zimbabwe team already lost the T20I series by losing the first three games to the Bangladesh cricket team.

The rest of the two T20Is are scheduled for May 10 and May 12 at the Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka. However, Zimbabwe failed to qualify for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and Caribbean.