Hampshire’s Barker to return in July after year-long ban for failed drug test

Keith Barker bowling for Hampshire against Essex in 2023. ‘I hope young professionals will look at my case with a renewed sense of vigilance,’ he said. Photograph: Gavin Ellis/TGS/Shutterstock

Hampshire’s Keith Barker has said he “feared for the loss of my career” during a nine-month wait to learn his punishment for a failed drug test caused by what he described as “a genuine administrative error”.

Barker has been cleared to return to professional cricket on 4 July, 12 months after he was told he had tested positive for the prohibited substance indapamide, which he had been prescribed to treat high blood pressure, and provisionally suspended. The length of his ban was decided last month and announced on Wednesday, one week short of 11 months after he took the out-of-competition test.