Former Australian Test captain Tim Paine had criticised South Africa Cricketers' Association’s handling of Kagiso Rabada over the recent drug controversy. SACA chief Andrew Breetzke has now hit back at Paine’s comments.
What had Rabada done?
Rabada had abruptly left after playing only twice for the Gujarat Titans in the 2025 IPL. On May 3, he was suspended after testing positive for recreational drug. “I am deeply sorry to all those that I have let down. I will never take the privilege of playing cricket for granted. This privilege is much larger than me. It goes beyond my personal aspirations,” he said in a statement.
On May 5, he was suspended for a month. Since he had already been away from cricket for a month – he had been told the test results on April 1 – he was cleared to play.
Australia and South Africa will clash in the final of the 2023-25 World Test Championship at Lord’s from June 11. Rabada is expected to play a key role in that.
What had Paine said?
“It stinks,” Paine said on the SEN Radio breakfast show. “I don’t like this use around personal issues, and it is being used to hide stuff that isn’t a personal issue. If you have a professional sportsman who’s tested for recreational drugs during a tournament in which he is playing, that doesn’t fall under personal issues for me. That falls under you having broken your contract. That is not a personal issue; that is something that is happening in your personal life.
“Taking drugs – recreational or performance enhancing – is not a personal issue that can just be hidden for a month. A guy can be taken out the IPL, moved back to South Africa and we just let it slide under the rug. Then we will bring him back once he’s already served his ban.”
How has Breetkze responded?
SACA CEO Breetzke hit back at Paine in an interview with SportsBoom: “The criticism that’s coming from Australia is somewhat naive and lacks understanding of how doping processes are managed.
“Effectively, he [Rabada] was notified on the first of April of the positive test, and we consulted with him on the 1st of April for the first time. In accordance with the SAIDS and WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) rules, there is a clear process that follows out of that, and we started that process immediately with him flying back to South Africa, getting the legal team together, the medical experts together and started the process relative to the rules,” clarified Breetzke.
“That’s exactly how it played out. It played out as it must in terms of the rules. When someone tests positive for substance of abuse, the rules are pretty clear, if it’s taken in competition, it’s a two-year suspension, if you can prove it's out of competition you can get it down to three months and if you go into a designated counselling program you can get it down to one month.
“We ticked off those boxes, and that's how the process unfolded over the month of April. It was professionally dealt with, and KG [Rabada] was absolutely professional, open and honest in the process, which is why we were able to do it within that time frame."
Breetzke also assured that there was little reason to be concerned when it came to South African athletes using drugs: “In cricket, there aren’t many doping cases. We’ve had six cases in South Africa in probably the last ten years. All players every year go through anti-doping education through us. That’s standard.
"Integrity in cricket is based on two elements: there’s the anti-doping regulations and there’s the anti-corruption regulations. In the list of high-risk sports in doping, cricket is not high on this.”
