DUBAI – The International Cricket Council said Saturday it wasinvestigating allegations that a Sri Lankan groundsman had agreed to tamperwith the pitch to alter the result of an upcoming Test match againstEngland.

The ICC said it took the allegations reported in an Al Jazeera documentary”very seriously” and urged “all evidence and supporting material” to beshared with the investigators.

An advance report on the documentary, which will be broadcast on Sunday,said two Sri Lankans and a former Indian player were caught discussing howto rig England s opening Test against Sri Lanka in November.

“We have already launched an investigation working with anti-corruptioncolleagues from member countries based on the limited information we havereceived,” the ICC said in a statement.

It also called for the immediate release of any evidence and supportingmaterial to enable the anti-corruption unit to “undertake a full andcomprehensive investigation”.

The London-based Daily Telegraph said late Friday that the Al Jazeerafootage seen by the newspaper featured Robin Morris, a former professionalcricketer from Mumbai, India, Tharindu Mendis, a player from Colombo, andTharanga Indika, an assistant manager at Galle International Stadium.

The newspaper reported that the footage showed the men talking aboutdoctoring pitches during a meeting with an undercover reporter.

The men were reportedly discussing ways to prepare the pitch to ensure thatthe first Test at the Galle ground would not end in a draw and would yielda result in less than four days.

Sri Lanka s cricket board said it was aware of the allegations and wasplanning on issuing a statement.

The former curator of the Galle International Stadium, JayanandaWarnaweera, is already under an ICC ban for three years until January 2019for failing to cooperate with an anti-corruption investigation.

Warnaweera, a former Test player, had failed to attend interviews with theICC s anti-corruption unit. He had been previously handed a two-year ban bythe local board over the same allegations.

Sri Lankan players and umpires have been accused of match fixing in thepast, but Warnaweera is the highest ranking official punished so far.

Although no big-name Sri Lankan player has ever been convicted ofcorruption, several former stars have made allegations of either matchfixing or spot-fixing — when players deliberately bowl or field badly togive away a set number of runs. – APP/AFP