DUBAI – The International Cricket Council (ICC) has revealed that fourinternational captains reported approaches to the governing body’s AntiCorruption Unit between June 1, 2017 and May 31, 2018.
The ICC, in its annual report, mentioned that it conducted 18investigations between June 2017 and May 2018, 17 of which were launchedafter the arrival of ACU General Manager Alex Marshall on September 1 lastyear.
“There has been a pleasing increase in the number of players having theconfidence to approach the ACU with reports of suspicious activity. Fourinternational captains reported approaches during 2017-18 and every avenuewas explored,” said the ICC in the report.
Out of 18 investigations, five have been concluded while charges werebrought in four cases, claimed the governing body.
“There were five disruptions — where individuals who are not directlyinvolved in cricket have their corrupt activities disrupted — and 13investigations remained ongoing as at May 31, 2018.
Two of the investigations were media stings, one investigation exonerated agroundsman and several players whilst the other is ongoing,” said thereport.
However, with the mushrooming T20 leagues around the world, ICC concededthat the challenge to root out corruption from the game is bigger than ever.
“These leagues range from well managed – in anti-corruption terms – globalevents through to those organised entirely for the purposes of corruption.The most obvious example of the latter is the Ajman All Stars event whichtook place in the UAE in early 2018.
“Going forward, it is intended to set minimum standards in anti-corruptionto cover all the new T20 leagues across the world because it is notpossible to police every one of those matches in person,” stated the reportfurther.
The ICC said that over the course of 2017-18, a total of 1468 players,support staff and match officials have been educated at 12 internationalevents: six ICC global events including 2017 Champions Trophy and theWomen’s World Cup.