Cricket: Giddins to consider legal action over allegation

Ed Giddins last night strenuously denied confessing to a newspaper that he knowingly took cocaine and he is now considering legal action to clear his name.

The former Sussex paceman, handed a 19-month suspension from first-class cricket after traces of the drug was discovered in a random test, was reported in the People to have admitted lying to the Test and County Cricket Board about how the drug got into his system, having originally claimed it was the result of a spiked drink.

However, Giddins' agent Gareth James said: "Ed is very, very unhappy about the report. He vehemently denies knowingly taking the drug and certainly never admitted doing so."

Giddins lost his appeal against the length of the ban on Friday and James said his client was planning to take the matter of the newspaper claims to the Press Complaints Commission.

Matthew Fleming, the Professional Cricketers' Association chairman, had earlier said that he was "stunned" by the report. He revealed the PCA may ask Giddins to repay the legal costs they funded Giddins in his battle to prove his innocence if the report were true.

Fleming, the Kent all-rounder said: "I would want to hear this story from the horse's mouth to see if it is correct before pre-judging Ed and I will probably be making efforts to speak to him today."