Northants' Lynn served drugs ban after Blast final

Northants batter Chris Lynn returned a positive drugs test after playing in this season's T20 Blast Finals Day, the Cricket Regulator has revealed. Chris Lynn was part of the Northants team that won this year's T20 Blast Former Northants Steelbacks batter Chris Lynn returned a positive drugs test after playing in this season's T20 Blast Finals Day, the Cricket Regulator has announced. Cocaine's metabolite benzoylecgonine was found in Lynn's urine sample and he was given a one-month suspension, which has now been served. The 36-year-old top-scored with 39 runs in their semi-final win over Somerset, before making four as they beat Hampshire in the final at Edgbaston on 18 July.

Lynn admitted using cocaine, external in the week before Finals Day – during the evening of 15 July and the early hours of 16 July. However, he asserted the usage amounted to "an out-of-competition violation" and was "unrelated to sporting performance", a view supported by an expert assigned by the regulator. The former Australia international served his suspension between 31 July and 30 August 2026. He has since completed a substance of abuse treatment programme which reduced his potential suspension from three months to one month. Lynn returned to play for Northants this year, having scored 880 T20 runs in two previous spells with the county in 2022 and 2023