West Indies batter John Campbell banned for four years for anti-doping rule violation

West Indies cricketer John Campbell has been banned for four years for violating an anti-doping rule. The decision was taken by the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO), as per Reuters. A three-member independent panel announced the decision on Friday.

The West Indies batter has been charged for evading, refusing or failing to submit to sample collection. The decision comes after JADCO had alleged Cambell refused to provide his blood sample at his home in Kingston in April earlier this year.

The independent panel announced an 18-page decision on Friday while charging the West Indies batter. The panel noted that Campbell breached rule 2.3 of JADCO. The panel observed that it was satisfied that the anti-doping violation by the West Indies batter was an intentional one and that he should be banned for four years.

"The panel is persuaded to a comfortable degree of satisfaction that the athlete committed an anti-doping rule violation, namely breach of JADCO rule 2.3," the decision read.

"The panel does not find, on the evidence presented, that the athlete's anti-doping violation was not intentional. In the circumstances of this case, the athlete is ineligible for a period of four years," it added.

29-year-old Campbell, who earned comparisons with the legendary Chris Gayle during the initial days of his international career, made his debut for West Indies in 2019. He has so far played 20 Tests, six ODIs and 2 T20Is for West Indies, with 888, 248 and 11 runs in the three formats, respectively.

The opening batter also played for the West Indies U-19 team before making his debut for the senior side. The left-hander last played for West Indies in a Test match against Bangladesh at Gros Islet in June this year. He was last seen in action for the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the inaugural edition of the SIXTY.