Australia's Shane Warne has been banned for 12 months in the greatest doping scandal to hit cricket.
Warne, the most successful leg spinner in history, responded immediately on Saturday by saying he would appeal and calling himself the victim of "anti-doping hysteria".
An Australian Cricket Board (ACB) anti-doping committee handed out the ruling after the 33-year-old flew home from the World Cup earlier this month without bowling a ball after testing positive for a diuretic.
Diuretics can be used to mask other illegal drugs.
The three-person committee took statements from seven witnesses in an eight-hour hearing on Friday.
Warne, one of the sport's most colourful personalities, was told the decision behind closed doors at the ACB's Melbourne headquarters on Saturday, two hours before it was publicly announced at 2 a.m. British time.
Justice Glen Williams, who chaired the panel, told reporters: "The committee found the charge proved and imposed on player Shane Keith Warne... (a ban) for the period of 12 months dated from February 10th 2003."
Warne, who made a rapid recovery from a serious shoulder injury to make Australia's World Cup squad, appeared stunned.
He told a news conference: "I am absolutely devastated and very upset.
"I will appeal. I feel that I am a victim of anti-doping hysteria. I also want to repeat I have never taken any performance-enhancing drugs and I never will."
He stressed that he had taken a fluid-reducing tablet, given to him by his mother to help him slim down, on January 21st.
"It had nothing to do with cricket or trying to mask anything. It had to do with appearance.
"I did not know it as a diuretic... I feel that a 12-month suspension is a very harsh penalty for not checking what I took with anyone."
ACB chief executive James Sutherland, however, told a news conference: "The anti-doping committee found that there were no exceptional circumstances which would justify the charge being dismissed."
The ban leaves a huge question mark over Warne's already controversial career.
The bowler, one of Wisden's five greatest players of the 20th century, looked set to overtake West Indies fast bowler Courtney Walsh's world record tally of test wickets in the coming year.
He had announced in January that he would retire from one-day cricket after the World Cup to concentrate on tests. That decision came after he dislocated his shoulder playing against England in Melbourne on December 15th.