THE Independent Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel hearing into the allegation that West Indies cricketer Andre Russell violated a whereabouts clause was adjourned early yesterday afternoon at Jamaica Conference Centre.

It is set to resume September 28.

During little over two hours into yesterday’s sitting, the disciplinary panel, comprising Chairman Hugh Faulkner, Dr Marjorie Vassell, and former Jamaica cricketer Dixeth Palmer, heard from Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) employee Nadia Vassell.

JADCO, represented by attorney-at-law Lackston Robinson, alleges that the 28-year-old Russell was negligent in whereabouts filings dated January 1, 2015, July 1, 2015 and July 25, 2015.

For much of the approximately 45-minute cross-examination of the JADCO witness, Queen’s Counsel Patrick Foster, the lead lawyer representing Russell, mostly probed the circumstances surrounding the last two alleged filing failures.

“A good portion of the cross-examination relates to the July to September quarter, where JADCO recorded two filing failures. I’m just, in cross-examination, exploring the basis upon which they arrived at two filing failures in the same quarter and not one,” Foster told journalists after the adjournment.

Robinson declined to comment outside of yesterday’s hearing.

In March this year, JADCO alleged that Russell failed to file his whereabouts resulting in him missing three doping tests over a 12-month period. Under World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) regulations that constitutes a failed test.

The rules require that athletes make their whereabouts known to local anti-doping agencies to facilitate testing. An athlete may face a ban of up to two years if found in violation.

Yesterday’s hearing, convened by the independent panel, was originally scheduled for two days and was expected to extend into today.

The session began at approximately 10:20 am and Robinson, early in his presentation to the panel, sought to establish how the filing failures came about.

He informed that Russell — present at the hearing along with his wife Jassym — failed to submit his whereabouts in advance.

The JADCO lawyer indicated that the third failure was tied to Russell allegedly not filing his whereabouts though receiving the opportunity following the second failure.

While being cross-examined, Vassell, who is listed as director of technical services at JADCO on the commission’s website, confirmed her role as whereabouts officer since December 2013.

She advised that she reports to JADCO Executive Director Carey Brown.

Under questioning from Foster, she said that in a letter dated July 6, 2015 an extension was given for Russell to file his whereabouts by July 13, 2015.

She added that on July 20, 2015, an e-mail providing a further extension was sent for filing to be done by July 24, 2015.

The hearing took a 10-minute break just past midday and the cross-examination of Vassell resumed thereafter.

But by approximately 12:40 pm, Foster found favour from the panel to his suggestion that cross-examination of Vassell be suspended until a later date.

After a short deliberation, the parties, including Robinson, agreed on next week’s resumption.

“We thought it best to continue at another time since we had some other dates and the cross examination may take some more time than we had for today [yesterday],” Foster later explained to the media.

Tentative dates were also set for the hearing to be completed on October 6 and 7.

The October dates were set to allow recovery time for JADCO’s Brown, who is listed as the second witness to be called by the commission.

The panel was informed that he had been injured in a recent accident and was unable to take the witness stand.

Russell, who has played for the West Indies in all formats of the game, is one of the globe’s most sought-after Twenty20 players.

He has represented franchises in the Caribbean, India, Bangladesh, Australia, and England.

He was a key part of the West Indies team that won the 2016 Twenty20 (T20) Cricket World Cup in India in April.

Russell played a star role as Jamaica Tallawahs won the 2016 Caribbean Premier League T20 tournament last month.