Australian cricket veteran Chris Lynn has been revealed to have served a secret ban for failing a drugs test during the T20 Blast finals.
England’s Cricket Regulator only announced Lynn’s sanction on Thursday, just weeks out from the start of the Big Bash season in Australia.
The 36-year-old had undergone an in-competition doping test on July 18 while his Northampton Steelbacks were competing on T20 Blast Finals Day.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow
The sample returned an adverse finding for cocaine’s metabolite benzoylecgonine.
Lynn was provisionally suspended on July 31 — two days after it had been announced he was ruled out of a Sri Lankan T20 tournament due to a leg injury.
He responded to the Cricket Regulator on August 20, confirming “that he had used cocaine on 15 and 16 July 2026 (being during a period of several hours across the evening and into the early hours)“.
He had played a quarter-final match earlier on July 15.
But Lynn successfully argued his cocaine use that night amounted to an out-of-competition violation unrelated to sporting performance.
“Included in the response was expert evidence supporting the position that the ingestion of cocaine occurred out-of-competition,” the Cricket Regulator said.
Lynn has scored more Big Bash runs than any other cricketer. Credit: AAPBe the first to know: Add 7NEWS as your preferred news source on Google
On the day of his doping test, Lynn scored a team-high 39 runs in Northampton’s semi-final win over Somerset and made four in the final against Hampshire as the Steelbacks claimed the T20 Blast title.
He was formally charged by the Cricket Regulator on September 23.
Standard out-of-competition cocaine penalties followed, with Lynn accepting a three-month ban that would be reduced to one month after he completed a substance abuse treatment program.
He later had one charge dropped because the reported level was below the minimum required under world anti-doping regulations, but accepted the other that benzoylecgonine was found in his system.
Lynn has not played a match since his sole T20 appearance in Sri Lanka on July 23 prior to learning of his ban.
The BBL’s all-time leading run-scorer, he has been linked with the Melbourne Renegades for the 2026-27 Big Bash after previous stints with the Adelaide Strikers and Brisbane Heat.
The Renegades are yet to announce his signing.
Hot-mic ‘diva’ drama erupts in women’s tennis: ‘Lost respect’
2 min read
Woman charged in shock twist to World Cup captain’s NZ rape claim
1 min read