ICC investigation into http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 v Zimbabwe fixture underway
The Australian team has laughed off the suggestion that their slow start in their opening match of the World Cup against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 is being probed by the Anti Corruption Unit of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The world champions were unusually circumspect in their match against the Africans played at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad.
The Aussies crawled at the start of the innings scoring only 3 runs per over for most part of the first 10.
The Aussies won the toss and opted to bat first in the 4th match of the tournament played on the 21st of February.
The two openers, Shane http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326, and, Brad Haddin, were bogged down by the Zimbabweans in no uncertain terms. The two big hitters of the ball were pinned down to the extent that they scored a mere 61 runs in their opening stand in 18.5 overs.
The stand was broken when Haddin was sent packing after scoring 29 runs off 66 balls. He hit three fours in his innings and scored at a strike rate of 44 runs per 100 balls.
However, the Aussies succeeded in upping the ante in the closing stages of their innings and were spurred on by breezy knocks by Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120, and the lower order managed to post a total of 262 runs in the allotted 50 overs.
A story was carried by an Indian newspaper that suggested that the ICC was looking into the slow start and the probe was to find out if the slow start was influenced by non-cricketing elements or if there was a link to bookies.
Haddin, who is apparently under investigation, laughed off the suggestion, he stated that he thinks it is no more than a joke.
"It's quite a laughable story. It's a joke", Haddin told reporters during a net session at the SSC in Colombo. "We just got off the mark a bit slowly".
The probe is about the start of the innings and the first 10 overs in particular where the pair stuttered around to take the total to a mere 28 in the first ten.
On the other hand, Haddin’s sentiments were echoed by Australian team manager, Steve Bernard, who said that "it was the silliest thing I've heard this week - and I've heard a lot of silly things since I've been here".
"I've just heard the story a moment ago and I'm not sure how to respond, except to say it would make a cat laugh. It's the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard in my life that a side can be 0-5 after two overs and that that's suspicious".
The cricketing world was rocked by a major scandal last August when the Pakistani trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir, and, Mohammad Asif, were caught in a spot fixing case during the fourth Test match against England held at Lords.
A ICC tribunal headed by Michael Beloff banned the three players for ten, seven, and, five years respectively in the wake of their involvement. The players would have a minimum ban of five years with the remainder of the punishment to be considered as suspension.
The World Cup had another intriguing development when it was revealed that the Australian great, Shane Warne, had predicted before the start of the England-India match that the result would be a tie.
The match ended as a tie after the hosts conceded 338 runs the same score that they had made batting first at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore. The ICC has not yet responded to the matter.
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