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PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa, Thursday (Reuters) - West Indies captain Carl Hooper says he doubts whether cricketers would gain any real benefit from using drugs.

Hooper, responding to questions about Shane Warne's positive dope test, said on Wednesday the nature of the game was such that drugs were unlikely to help any player, and least of all spin bowlers.

"At the end of the day, it's such a technical sport that, if it gives you an edge, it's only a slight one," he said at a news conference.

The West Indian skipper said the only cricketers who might benefit from using banned substances were fast bowlers, who could be aided by endurance drugs.

"In some areas where a fast bowler would normally be able to bowl for an hour at genuine pace, maybe he might be able to bowl for an hour and a half or two hours at the same pace," Hooper said.

Hooper added he had never suspected a cricketer of using performance-enhancing drugs but feared some players could inadvertently test positive because they did not know the medications they were taking contained prohibited substances.

"The doping is really new for us...it's new to the sport," he said.

"It'll take a few years before all the players are familiar with the regulations."

Hooper, like many international players, said he was surprised to learn of Warne's positive test for diuretics and hoped it was an innocent mistake.

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