Corruption Cannot Be Ruled Out Fully: ICC ACSU Chief Ronnie Flanagan
A day after handing over suspensions to the Pakistani trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif on their alleged involvement in spot and match-fixing during the fourth and final Test against England at Lord’s last week, the International Cricket Council’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit Chief Ronnie Flanagan has conceded that corruption within the game cannot be ruled out fully.
He addressed a joint press conference with the ICC Chief Executive http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Haroon-Lorgat-c61719 at the home of cricket at Lord’s, where Lorgat vowed to cleanse the game and rid it of corrupt players and officials.
The match and spot-fixing controversy emerged last week when the trio allegedly conspired to deliberately deliver no-balls during England’s first innings in a match that was won by the hosts by a record innings and 225-run margin.
Flanagan, who is a renowned Irish police-officer, revealed that the peculiar nature of the sport that has so many variables is simply impossible to monitor for corruption as anyone can tinker with a situation at any given time during a match.
The now suspended http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 opener-batsman Salman Butt and opening bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif were charged on Thursday by the governing body of the game’s anti-corruption code and cannot take part in any international game or cricketing activity as long as the suspension lasts.
The players, however, can lodge an appeal against the decision within the next 14 days.
Since the damning allegations, all h**l has broken loose for the players, as earlier in the week, they had their mobile phones confiscated as part of a police investigation by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Scotland-c756 Yard.
The scandal was first broken by a British newspaper (tabloid ‘News of the World’) that claimed that the trio took bribes to fix incidents in the final Test against England at Lord's last week.
Despite their determination to clean up the sport, Flanagan said that the governing body of one of the most popular sports in the world is simply incapable of busting the match-fixing scandals and scams that have engulfed the game time and again in recent years.
During the press-conference, Flanagan revealed that he doubted the game would ever be free of corrupt characters.
"There will always be people who seek to exploit situations for unlawful profit. We have to be very vigilant, everyone in the game has to be very vigilant to prevent that but we will never achieve one hundred percent certainty in that prevention."
Meanwhile, the hosts of yet another controversial Pak-England series are in Cardiff, where they are preparing for the first of two Twenty20 internationals set to be played later today.
Team manager, former http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 wicket-keeper batsman Andy Flower, believed the sport would recover from the latest scandal.
"We have to see the outcome of these investigations first but obviously it's not a very healthy position we seem to find ourselves in right now," Flower told the media after a training session. The left-handed batsman, who was the only world-class batsman from his country in his time, added, "But the game will survive, it's a great, great game, people love playing it and people love watching it and that's why it will survive."
He concluded that his team dealt with the scandal manfully last week, especially on the last day of the Lord’s Test match.
"To be faced with those changing circumstances was a bit of a challenge to the guys, but I thought they held themselves very well," he said.
"They didn't get caught in petty point making and they made a point of handling themselves in a very dignified manner."
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