UTV | COLOMBO – The International Cricket Council has rejected allegations of match-fixing in the Ashes series but was forced to admit it would need to investigate the wide-ranging claims more thoroughly.
British newspaper The Sun published the allegations just hours before the 3rd Test was due to begin, but by the time the captains met in the middle, Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland stood outside the WACA Ground and said the ICC was confident there was “no evidence, no substance and no justification” to the claims.
Meanwhile issuing a media communique, Alex Marshall, ICC General Manager of Anti-Corruption said, “We have now received all materials relating to The Sun investigation. We take the allegations extremely seriously and they will be investigated by the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit working with anti-corruption colleagues from Member countries”.
“From my initial assessment of the material, there is no evidence, either from The Sun or via our own intelligence, to suggest the current Test Match has been corrupted. At this stage of the investigation, there is no indication that any players in this Test have been in contact with the alleged fixers”, he added.
Filmed by undercover reporters for the SUN newspaper, the pair claimed to have been able to give information on spot fixes — amounts of runs, when wickets would fall — in the Perth Test for large amounts of money.
They said they had done the same in many Indian Premier League matches and boasted they could arrange events in Big Bash League games.
The Guardian reported earlier this month that the ICC integrity unit was investigating six new match-fixing cases — including secret approaches to three international captains in the past 10 weeks.
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed, Zimbabwe skipper Graeme Cremer as well as the skipper of a third unnamed international side have all officially reported approaches from match-fixers, and the ICC is planning to charge those involved in making the approaches.
Australian captain Steve Smith said he knew nothing about any approaches by match-fixers. “There’s no tolerance and no place for that in our game. As far as I know, there’s nothing that has been going on or anything like that,” Smith said yesterday.
Marshall said there was “no evidence, either from The Sun or via our own intelligence, to suggest the current Test match has been corrupted”.
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