The International Cricket Council to probe Australian Gambling Agency
The International Cricket Council has revealed that it will be investigating an Australian TAB gambling agency for offering the odds of twenty to one against the first ball of the fifth day of the first match of the Ashes, being called a wide.
This was a startling revelation by the ICC bosses, which shows that the most prestigious Test series (the Ashes) is also no longer safe from corruption. There have been on and off reports of some foul play in other cricket tournaments, but never before has
anything been reported related with the Ashes.
The Ashes has always been deemed as the most clean and competitive Test format of the game and such allegations may harm the credibility of the oldest series in the history of cricket.
The ICC maintains that its Anti-Corruption Unit has always co-operated with the sports gambling agencies the world over, to ensure that the bids are not high enough to tempt the players into giving a performance change aiming at wining money through these
bids.
Last week, however, TAB offered a twenty to one bid which has raised some eyebrows in the ICC. The Chief Executive of the International Cricket Council has vowed to raise the issue with the Australian Cricket Board. (in Australia sports gambling is legal)
Haroon Lorgat feels that any act that threatens the sanctity of the game should be dealt with immediately. He said, “Scenarios that threaten the integrity of the game are not helpful. We have plans to engage with regulators to protect the integrity of the
game.”
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Haroon-Lorgat-c61719’s ICC has been very busy with the issues of match-fixing this year. ICC’s testing times started this summer when three Pakistani national players (Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif) were accused to spot-fixing a game against England
on the behest of a bookie.
The three players are currently suspended and waiting for a trail to begin in January which will be conducted by the International Cricket Council. This hearing will decide the future of these players and look into the evidence against them. Since this incident
the ICC has been very active in trying to root out the menace of corruption in the sport of cricket.
The ICC is taking action against any evidence of match-fixing that it can find in any part of the world. Previously there were claims that the ICC was only focusing on Asian countries but this new decision by the ICC to go after suspicious bookies in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746
has proved that the ICC is taking on match-fixing on a global level and is not limited towards South Asia.
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