The head of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) anti-corruption unit said on Friday he had been in direct contact with around 12 “corruptors” to warn them off the World Cup.
Match fixing or spot fixing, where gamblers try to influencespecific incidents in a game, remains one of the biggest problems facingcricket, particularly in countries such as India, the sport’s financialpowerhouse, where betting is unregulated.
An education video urging players to “recognise, reject andreport” any corrupt approaches has been shown to all 10 competing World Cupteams.
The film also contains names and imagery of potentialfixers, although their identities were obscured when the tape was shown onFriday during a media briefing at the Oval — where the World Cup starts with amatch between England and South Africa on May 30.
“It’s around a dozen people who have had the ‘disinvite’ tothe Cricket World Cup and who we will keep away,” Alex Marshall, the head ofthe ICC Anti-Corruption Unit, told reporters.
“If any more pop up, we will be speaking to them as well.They are people who live all over the world but the majority of the corruptionwe deal with has its origins in the subcontinent, unregulated betting markets.”
WARNINGS
Marshall said while he could not stop anyone travelling toEngland, he had been in direct contact with potential fixers to make it clearwhat would happen if they tried to disrupt the tournament.
“I have either written, called or Whatsapped all thecorruptors featured there (in the video) and the other main corruptors we knowoperating around the world to tell them not to come anywhere near the WorldCup,” explained Marshall.
“So far they have all promised me they are not coming. Butsometimes with corruptors, you find they don’t always tell the truth. So wewill be very proactive in keeping them away from the tournament.”
“We have shared their details with law enforcement and thepolice here in the UK — if our guys see them anywhere around the World Cup,they will be asked to leave.
“This is a very tough event for corruptors to come near,”Marshall said, with corrupt betting rings generally targeting lower-profileevents.
This will be the first World Cup at which the ICC will havea dedicated anti-corruption officer with every team. The most high-profileaction taken by Marshall in his 18 months at the ICC has involved players fromSri Lanka.
Nuwan Zoysa and Avishka Gunawardene were charged withmatch-fixing this month and in February former captain Sanath Jayasuriya wasbanned from the game after admitting two breaches of the anti-corruption code.That followed an ICC amnesty in Sri Lanka to all those who passed on relevantinformation but Marshall said it was too soon to say if similar schemes wouldapply in other countries.
Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara, who played alongsideJayasuriya, Zoysa and Gunawardene, said strong action was needed. “Corruptionis one of the most important things we need to eradicate from the game in allforms,” Sangakkara said at Lord’s this week.Sangakkara, who will become the firstnon-British president of MCC in October, added: “It is not just about spot ormatch-fixing, it is about ensuring more transparency from the national boards,that the funding that goes to the national boards is properly accounted for.”