The International Cricket Council (ICC) has launched an investigation into Friday’s one-day international between England and Pakistan, the sport’s governing body said yesterday.
The decision was taken after the ICC received information from a British newspaper on a scoring pattern during the match, which Pakistan won by 23 runs, ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said in a statement.
“A source informed the Sun newspaper that a certain scoring pattern would emerge during certain stages of the match and, broadly speaking, that information appeared to be correct,” Lorgat said. “We therefore feel it is incumbent upon us to launch a full inquiry into this particular game, although it is worth pointing out at this stage that we are not stating as fact that anything untoward has occurred.”
PHOTO: AFP
A report in the newspaper said illegal bookmakers knew the scoring pattern in Pakistan’s innings before the start of Friday’s match at The Oval in London.
“The ICC maintains a zero-tolerance approach to corruption,” Lorgat said. “Any player or official found guilty of an offense will face the full rigor of our robust Anti-Corruption Code so that we can ensure the integrity of the sport is maintained.”
Three Pakistani cricketers — Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir — have already been provisionally suspended by the ICC following a spot-fixing scandal during a Test match in England last month.
A fourth player, Wahab Riaz, was quizzed by British police.
A police file detailing evidence on claims Butt, Asif and Amir accepted cash bribes to take part in spot-fixing has been handed over to prosecutors.
Scotland Yard said evidence that there was a conspiracy to defraud bookmakers will be considered by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Detectives interviewed the four players under caution and arrested businessman Mazhar Majeed as part of the inquiry. Majeed is accused of accepting £150,000 to fix the actions of several players.
“The Metropolitan Police Service has today delivered an initial file of evidence relating to conspiracy to defraud bookmakers to the Crown Prosecution Service,” a police spokesman said. “The file will now be subject to CPS consideration. This is an initial file and the Met investigation continues.”
Pakistani Sports Minister Aijaz Jakhrani said the government would not take action unless there is clear evidence against a player.
“The ICC has the power and an anti-corruption unit and they should go ahead and use that,” Jakhrani told Indian news channel CNN-IBN. “If they get any proof, then we will definitely look into it.”
He said if the government had cracked down on corruption in the past, the recent scandals would not have happened.
“If we had made some harsh decisions in the past, it would not have happened. If we had taken some harsh decisions, young players would not dare to do something wrong,” he said. “This is the time when we have to take some tough decisions. This time we will not spare anybody.”
He was also unhappy with the role of team management and felt they were not strict enough.
“This is the thing management has to do. Access to players should not be easy and mobile phones should not be available to the players when they are playing.”
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