International Cricket Council rejects match fixing claims made on Al Jazeera Documentary
The council claims that the documentary ‘Cricket’s Match Fixers’ had insufficient evidence of the claims made
The International Cricket Council has rejected match fixing allegations made in a 2018 documentary ‘Cricket’s Match Fixers’ which was broadcasted on government-funded news outlet Al-Jazeera.
No charges will be brought forward against any of the five individuals featured in the program who had charges pending. The allegations were that two big international matches England in Chennai in 2016 and India against Australia in Ranchi a year later in 2017 were fixed.
This documentary supposedly opened up to match fixing in India. After engaging four cricket and betting specialists to analyse the passages of play, ICC concluded that these games were ‘entirely predictable’ and ‘therefore implausible as a fix’.
Alex Marshall, ICC General Manager – Integrity said “We welcome the reporting of alleged corrupt activity within cricket as there is no place for such conduct in our sport, but we also need to be satisfied there is sufficient evidence to sustain charges against Participants.”
Marshall continued: “On the basis of the programme, the participants to the code who were filmed appear to have behaved in a questionable manner, however, we have been unable to assess the full context of the conversations that took place beyond what was seen on screen versus what the Participants claim actually happened. This combined with the absence of any other credible evidence means there are insufficient grounds to bring charges under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.
“Should any new substantial evidence come to light I will re-examine the case. But at present I am comfortable with the conclusion of the investigation and the thoroughness with which it was undertaken.”
All five participants who featured in the programme have been interviewed by the ICC and have been dismissed.
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