{"id":628909,"date":"2026-04-25T00:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T00:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/628909\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T00:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T00:16:09","slug":"doug-bracewell-cops-two-year-ban-for-using-cocaine-mid-match-county-championship-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/628909\/","title":{"rendered":"Doug Bracewell cops two-year ban for using cocaine mid-match, County Championship, video"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former New Zealand and Essex all-rounder Doug Bracewell has been given a two-year suspension after testing positive for cocaine during an English County Championship match last year.<\/p>\n<p>Bracewell\u2019s positive test came on September 25, 2025 while he was playing for Essex against Somerset at Chelmsford.<\/p>\n<p>The 35-year-old admitted using cocaine after the first day of the fixture and in the early hours of the morning prior to the second day\u2019s play.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776909012_441_poster-fallback.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>After being notified of the positive test, Bracewell retired from cricket on December 28.<\/p>\n<p>Get all the latest cricket news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/newsletter-sign-up?utm_source=CricketArticle&amp;utm_medium=TextLink&amp;utm_campaign=signup\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Sign up now &gt;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Despite his retirement, Bracewell, who had signed for Essex for the final three Championship matches of last season, was still issued with the two-year ban by the Cricket Regulator.<\/p>\n<p>He previously served a one-month ban in 2024 after testing positive for cocaine during New Zealand\u2019s \u2018Super Smash\u2019 Twenty20 event.<\/p>\n<p>The two-year suspension is backdated to November 24, 2025, the date of his provisional ban, and will run until November 23, 2027.<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand&#8217;s Doug Bracewell in 2016.Source: AFP<\/p>\n<p>Bracewell, who played in 69 matches for New Zealand across all formats, has accepted the ban and Essex will not face punishment.<\/p>\n<p>He led New Zealand to a famous victory against trans-Tasman rivals Australia in Hobart in 2011, taking a career-best 6-40 in the fourth innings as the Black Caps triumphed by seven runs. It remains the nation\u2019s lone Test victory on Australian soil since 1985.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEssex can confirm that Doug Bracewell failed a routine drugs test in September 2025,\u201d the club said in a statement on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe club supports the Cricket Regulator\u2019s decision to impose a period of ineligibility of two years. All employees are required to meet the highest standards of professional conduct.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile the club does not condone Bracewell\u2019s behaviour, we are committed to supporting him through rehabilitation in line with our policies and procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former New Zealand and Essex all-rounder Doug Bracewell has been given a two-year suspension after testing positive for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-628909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}