MUMBAI, Oct 20: The International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Medical Committee has expressed concerns about the players performing in extremely hot conditions and will study the issue in detail next year.

Peter Harcourt, the head of the ICC’s Medical Committee, has said in the latest issue of its quarterly publication that one area which the committee would look into more closely “is the impact of playing of cricket in extreme heat.”

“The Committee noted that there is more and more international cricket being scheduled in very hot weather conditions and we think it is important that correct steps are taken to protect the health of athletes in these circumstances,” he said.

“The ICC already has some sensible guidelines in place that enable the taking of extra drinks but this clearly is an area that merits further research and we hope to commence a project to look into this from 2009,” Harcourt noted.

The five-member Committee, which met for the first time in May, feels one of its priorities is to make up enough ground and catch up with other leading team sports on anti-doping issues.

“Cricket has made significant progress over the last 18 months but it still has ground to make up on some of the other leading team sport.

“It is now important for all of the leading member countries to implement their own WADA (World Anti Doping Agency)-compliant national anti-doping codes as a high priority,” Harcourt observed.

Harcourt said members cannot offer excuses if they do not have a WADA-compliant anti-doping code by the middle of next year.

The Committee had also discussed the matter of illegal bowling actions and feels that it can assist the ICC in this contentious issue “through consistency of testing,” Harcourt stated.

“To ensure this we are in the process of reviewing the current laboratory testing protocols for players with suspected illegal actions and we will tighten and strengthen these if required.”—Agencies