Cricket in a fix
ICC anti-corruption unit closing in on former SA test player
SOUTH African cricket is bracing itself for its biggest match-fixing scandal since the Hansie Cronje affair as the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit closes in on a former test player thought to be the ring leader in attempts to corrupt the recent Ram Slam Twenty20 competition. Investigators from the ACU have been working for weeks on a complex case that is expected to become public once the test series against England is completed. The case will be a huge test for Cricket South Africa and the ICC, which is helping the local authorities with its investigation. CSA has declined to comment apart from releasing one statement on December 16 announcing it had suspended an intermediary who was “contriving to fix, or otherwise improperly influence aspects of South Africa’s domestic Twenty20 competition”. Reports state one former South African test cricketer has been charged and a franchise team investigated, with other players facing disciplinary action for failing to report corrupt approaches. The former test player could face jail. The ACU is in the process of agreeing on memorandums of understanding with police in England and South Africa that will allow them to share intelligence. A formal link would also enable the ACU to benefit from the extra investigatory powers the police have at their disposal. Last month, the chairman of the ICC’s ACU, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, said his unit was engaged in a series of ongoing investigations.
One – believed to be this South Africa probe – was at an advanced stage, he said. Earlier this week it was revealed that a Hong Kong cricketer due to play in the forthcoming World Twenty20 had been charged with an anti-corruption offence after being approached by the same fixer who paid Lou Vincent. All-rounder Irfan Ahmed, 26, is facing a possible two-year ban if found guilty of failing to report an approach by a known fixer. In his recent interview, Flanagan also warned of the danger of corruption at associate level and the women’s game. “The harder international cricket is made as a target, the bigger the risk of displacement towards domestic games and lower levels of international cricket,” he said. “For the bad guys to succeed, they want an event that is televised, then they can go about their illegal betting.” The Ram Slam was shown live in India, from where almost all cricket corruption emanates. A recent report into fixing in the IPL recommended legalising gambling in India to help combat the problem of fixing. The last thing the South African authorities need is for the tournament to be tainted by scandal, but there is also a strong desire at the ICC to prove it can root out corruption and punish the guilty. – The Telegraph
