A young cricketer’s bid to bulk up in the gym has ended with the harshest punishment the sport can hand down.
Smit has been banned from all cricket for four years after a sports tribunal found he committed two anti-doping rule violations over the possession and attempted use of anabolic steroid Dianabol.
The Sport Integrity Commission brought the case, alleging Smit held the banned substance and intended to use it. He was given several extensions to file a notice of defence. He never did.
Instead, Smit offered an explanation that never convinced the panel.
He said he ordered Dianabol from China back in 2022, while still at school, chasing size and strength in the gym rather than an edge on the field. According to his account, the steroid had “nothing to do” with cricket performance and everything to do with teenage muscle gain.
The parcel did not arrive when expected. It surfaced much later, intercepted on December 31, 2025, after a long delay that even Smit admitted had dulled his appetite for the drug. The package, he claimed, turned up without warning, long after he had moved on.
That was the turning point.
The commission pointed out there was no evidence he had ever cancelled the order. No emails. No messages. No transaction records. Nothing to show he had tried to stop the purchase.
When investigators pressed him for more — messages with the supplier, proof of payment, any trace of the deal — Smit said he had none. He told them he paid in bitcoin and no longer had an account.
The tribunal did not buy it.
It ruled that the 2025 delivery was not the tail end of an old schoolboy mistake, but a fresh purchase. That distinction mattered. If it was a new order, Smit fell squarely under anti-doping rules at the time he acquired the steroid.
The panel concluded he possessed Dianabol and intended to use it. Both alleged anti-doping violations were upheld.
The punishment is severe. Smit has been hit with a four-year ban from cricket, backdated to May 26, 2026, when he was provisionally suspended. He cannot take part in competitive sport until May 26, 2030.
For a young player, those dates carve out a huge slice of a career.
Sport Integrity Commission Te Kahu Raunui chief executive Rebecca Rolls said the case underlined how dangerous a few clicks on a website can be for any athlete.
“Anti-doping rules apply to and protect athletes at all levels,” she said.
“Buying banned substances online may seem low risk. The reality is that the consequences can be deeply harmful, affecting an athlete’s health, wellbeing, relationships, and their future in the sport they love.”
One online order, a delayed parcel, and a story that now stands as a stark warning to every aspiring cricketer tempted to take the same shortcut.
