Pakistan betting scandal: Sri Lanka player under ICC spotlight

The International Cricket Council's anti-corruption unit has been monitoring the activities of a leading Sri Lanka player since the World Twenty20 in England last year after team-mates became increasingly unsettled by his late-night fraternising with a man they believed to be an illegal bookmaker. They passed on their concerns to the captain, Kumar Sangakkara, who followed ICC protocol by contacting the anti-corruption unit.


The player has since been investigated by Sri Lankan police, although no charges have been laid; officials from the ICC's anti-corruption unit are said to be dismayed at the lack of progress. Haroon Lorgat, the ICC's chief executive, has admitted to a general sense of frustration, saying: "The [anti-corruption unit's] working is not that of a policing agency or a newspaper. They have no power to arrest or seize, or carry out a sting operation."

Getting international players to question the honesty of one of their own team‑mates is a considerable challenge, but it is essential if the ICC is to root out corruption. England's one-day captain, Paul Collingwood, admitted ahead of today's Twenty20 international in Cardiff the difficulty faced by players in casting aside dressing‑room loyalties by reporting a team‑mate suspected of involvement with a betting scam.
As England and Pakistan prepared for the start of the one-day series, in a lingering atmosphere of despondency and mistrust, Collingwood said: "I love this game fondly. It's very hard to say whether you would blag on someone or whatever but I would like to think I would take every decision in the best interests of the game of cricket."

No England player, as far as Collingwood is aware, has ever felt the need to phone the ICC's anti-corruption hotline. "In my experience, I would probably say never, but I don't know for certain. You don't know whether players have done it individually and not told anybody else. This is probably stuff that will be done confidentially and kept kind of under the carpet."

England also seem to have stopped short of reporting suspicions about opponents. They are regularly implored, as are players from all countries, to pass on all suspicions and leave the anti-corruption unit to investigate, but pointing the finger of suspicion without evidence is not easily done. "From a players' point of view, we pretty much just want to focus on the game in hand and let the authorities deal with it and make strong decisions," Collingwood said. "It may be up to the players to tell the authorities if they think something is going on."

Pakistan's new captain, Shahid Afridi, who took over from the suspended Salman Butt, made a remarkable public apology before his side's net session in Cardiff yesterday on behalf of the three players – Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir – whose alleged involvement in betting scams is being investigated by the Metropolitan police and who have already been charged under the ICC's code of conduct. Afridi made no attempt to proclaim their innocence. "I think it is very bad news," he said. "On behalf of these players – I know they are not in this series – but on behalf of these boys, I want to say sorry to all cricket lovers and all the cricketing nations."

The News of the World, which published its exposé into cricket corruption a week ago after a sting operation against the Pakistan players' agent, Mazhar Majeed, provides further evidence over 19 pages today to support its allegations. The newspaper has been praised by the head of the anti-corruption unit, Ronnie Flanagan. The newspaper claims that the Pakistan players face 23 ICC charges between them and that the Metropolitan Police have recovered between £10-15,000 of bills marked by the News of the World from Butt's room.

It also states Butt was warned five times that he must report any irregular dealings. It also derides as "rantings" the suggestion by the Pakistan high commissioner in London, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, that the evidence had been faked.

Yasir Hameed, who was recalled for the final Test at The Oval – the Test that was the subject of the News of the World sting – is quoted as saying: "They were doing it [fixing] in almost every match. God knows what they were up to." Hameed last night denied he had made the allegations and said he was "deeply disturbed" by them.
(Gardian.co.uk)

ICC: fixing case is most serious since Cronje

LONDON (AP) - The head of the International Cricket Council has called the fixing allegations against three suspended Pakistan players the most serious case of corruption to hit the sport since South Africa captain Hansie Cronje was banned for life 10 years ago.


Speaking on Friday, ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said allegations that Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir and Salman Butt conspired with bookmakers to deliver deliberate no-balls in last week’s fourth Test against England were hugely detrimental to the image of cricket.
"In terms of corruption in the sport, this must rank as the next worst after the Hansie Cronje case," Lorgat said.

Cronje admitted to forecasting results in exchange for money from a London bookmaker, prompting the ICC to create its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU).

There is no suggestion that the Pakistan players conspired to affect the result of the match at Lord’s - which Pakistan lost by an innings and 225 runs for its worst ever Test defeat - but the trio could still be banned for life if found guilty.

The ICC could widen the investigation into the allegations against Asif, Amir and Butt - whom it suspended late Thursday - to cover last year’s contentious Test match against Australia in Sydney.

ACSU chairman Ronnie Flanagan said the current charges pertain only to last week’s fourth Test against England but that the ICC could still look into what he called a "dysfunctional" tour of Australia by Pakistan.
"We will go where the evidential trail takes us," Flanagan said. "At this stage, we do not have such evidence to hand for that tour or that match."

Flanagan added that there were separate ongoing investigations into other international sides but that he did not think that the current case was "the tip of an iceberg."

However, Flanagan did acknowledge that cricket was especially suited to spot betting - when gamblers wager on individual events within a match rather than the result - and said that it may be time for a single body to regulate betting across all sports.

The body could monitor betting in the way WADA looks at doping. "There is perhaps a much wider problem in terms of betting and the regulation of betting worldwide," Lorgat said. "I have already been in touch with colleagues in a similar position in horse racing. Perhaps together, we can look at the whole problem with betting and the regulation thereof."

In the meantime, Flanagan said the ICC will examine its own code and strengthen it if necessary.
He said he would congratulate the News of the World if the allegations stemming from its sting operation, in which an undercover reporter met with an associate of the players, resulted in convictions.

"We are not a police force," Flanagan said. "We cannot arrest and we cannot engage in undercover operations. "They brought it to light in ways the ICC would not want us to engage in. You can never be 100 per cent foolproof. There will always be cases of wrongdoing."

Flanagan and Lorgat would not comment on reports in Friday’s edition of Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper that marked notes used in the sting operation that led to the allegations had been found in Butt’s locker. (The Island)

Sri Lanka A v Pakistan A, A team tri-series , Karunaratne stars in Sri Lanka A win

Sri Lanka A 238 for 9 (FDM Karunaratne 106, M Irfan 3-30) beat Pakistan A 241 for 6 (A Shafiq 109, S Ghani 35) by 7 runs (D/L method)


Scorecard
Dimuth Karunaratne's maiden one-day hundred and a little help from Duckworth-Lewis saw Sri Lanka A beat Pakistan A by seven runs at the P Sara Oval on Thursday. With two overs remaining, Sri Lanka still needed four runs to win with its number ten and eleven at the wicket, but bad light forced play to be called off. The resulting D/L calculations gave the hosts their first win in the triangular series, which also features South Africa A. Sri Lanka and South Africa will meet in the final on September 6.

When Karunaratne fell lbw to Mohammad Irfan in the 41st over, Pakistan looked to be in the driving seat. But Seekkuge Prasanna threw his bat around to make 30 off 17 balls, with four fours, to tilt the game in Sri Lanka's favour. The last two batsmen then hung around long enough for the light to intervene.

Pakistan's total was built around a solid hundred from Asad Shafiq, who scored at a run-a-ball, with seven fours. He got little support from the rest of teammates, however, with only Sheharyar Ghani making more than 30. (ESPN Cric Info)

Pakistan cricketers at the centre of match-fixing scam

Property developer accepting £150,000 secretly filmed


The visiting Pakistan cricket team was on Sunday at the centre of a police investigation into allegations of match-fixing as a London-based Pakistani property developer was arrested after being secretly filmed accepting £150,000 from an undercover reporter. The journalist posed himself as a middleman for a betting syndicate ahead of the Pakistan-England Test match at the Lord's on Thursday.

Pakistan lost the match by an innings and 225 runs on Sunday – and with that the four-match series 3-1.

Footage from the film shows Mazhar Majeed (35) counting the money while telling the reporter of the News of the World that Pakistani bowlers would bowl three no-balls on the first day of the match on Thursday. Next day, three no-balls were bowled by Mohammad Aamir and Mohammad Asif exactly at the times he predicted.

The Scotland Yard confirmed Majeed's arrest on suspicion of “conspiracy to defraud bookmakers.''

“Following information received from the News of the World, we have... arrested a 35-year-old man on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers,” it said in a statement.

Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed said four players, including captain Salman Butt, were interviewed by Scotland Yard officers. “Scotland Yard detectives visited the team hotel where they took statements from [captain] Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamir, Mohammad Asif and Kamran Akmal,” he said.

The mobile phones of Aamir, Asif and Butt were taken away by the police.

In a joint statement, the International Cricket Council (ICC), the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) denied speculation that any player or team official was arrested.

According to News of the World, Pakistani players were bribed to bowl no-balls.

“In the most sensational sporting scandal ever, bowlers Mohammad Aamir and Mohammad Asif delivered three blatant no-balls to order,'' it said in a front-page splash under the heading “Caught: Match-fixer trousers £150K as he rigs the England Test at Lord's.''

Majeed reportedly alleged that Butt and seven other Pakistani players were involved in match-fixing.

In a conversation, secretly filmed in a West London hotel, Majeed is seen and heard telling the reporter, “I'm going to give you three no-balls to prove to you firstly that this is what's happening. They've all been organised, okay? This is exactly what's going to happen, you're going to see these three things happen. I'm telling you, if you play this right you're going to make a lot of money, believe me!”

The newspaper said: “Having already trousered a £10,000 upfront deposit, which he insisted had gone to the stars, Majeed ... eagerly counted out the £140,000 balance in bundles of crisp £50 notes... In return for their suitcase of money Majeed then calmly detailed what would happen – and when – on the field of play next day, as a taster of all the lucrative information he could supply in future.''
At one stage Majeed reportedly boasted that “absolutely millions, millions” could be made by paying him up to £450,000 a time for information on matches, then placing bets on the fixed outcome. About the players, he said: “These poor boys need to. They're paid peanuts.”

Butt told reporters that he and his team-mates had “given our best.” “I would say that everybody in this team has given 100 per cent,” he said (News- The Hindu)

Sri Lanka Triangular Series 2010 : Sehwag backs Indian youngsters

India's misfiring young batsmen are getting plenty of support from their seniors. Two days after captain MS Dhoni said he was not too concerned about the batting collapses in the Dambulla tri-series, Virender Sehwag has also backed his less experienced team-mates to deliver.
The quartet of Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthi, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have managed just 94 runs between them through the tournament. But India are still in the final, on the back of two solo efforts from Sehwag which led to two victories.
"When I was a youngster, it took me almost 50 to 70 innings to perform consistently, so we have to give more time to youngsters," Sehwag said. "We are not worried about them too much because in Dambulla, everybody's not scoring. We have to live with that and give youngsters some confidence and tell them to go out and spend some time at the wicket."
India's batsmen have kept the opposition wicketkeepers and slip fielders busy, giving up nearly half their wickets to catches in that area. Dhoni had called for his batsmen to be more decisive with their stroke-selection, particularly to balls outside off. However, on Wednesday two of India's top-order batsmen, Karthik and Kohli, fell wafting at precisely such deliveries.
"It's very easy to say that you should leave the ball or hit it according to its merit but it's very difficult to react according to the merit of the ball," Sehwag said. "When we were young, it would have been confusing whether to hit or leave. It used to be tempting to hit and we used to get out in that confusion. It's important to either leave or play the balls outside off rather than defending them."
Sehwag, the only batsman from the three sides to come to terms with the seam and swing in Dambulla, advised caution in the early stages of the innings. India's scores after 15 overs in their league matches were 54 for 5, 47 for 3, 56 for 3 and 81 for 4.
"If you see off the first 10-15 overs, it becomes easier to bat. But those first few overs are difficult to survive," he said. "If you see off the new ball (even) without scoring much in the first 15 overs, it helps the team a lot."
Saturday's final could well be the last chance for the likes of Kohli and Rohit to press for a permanent place in the side, as senior batsmen including Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir could return to the one-day team for the home series against Australia in October. (ESPN CricInfo)

Pallekele readies itself for the big day

Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, one of Sri Lanka's three venues being developed for next year's World Cup, is the ground organisers are most confident about, in terms of how the pitch will behave and completing the construction sufficiently in time. "We have no fears," Suraj Dandeniya, director of the World Cup secretariat, said, "because we are playing matches, we are playing South Africa, New Zealand, all those matches, so it is 100% sure that the pitch is complete."
Getting to the stadium involves a lovely half-hour drive from the city of Kandy. You get to take in the two-century old man-made Kandy Lake, which is the centerpiece of the city, before moving along to some twisty Hill Country streets. Next up on the ride is the bridge across the majestic Mahaweli river, the largest in the country, followed by a canopied stretch past the Sri Lankan International Buddhist Academy before turning into the plush-looking Kandy Industrial Park a few kilometers ahead where the ground is located.
There's still no sign of the stadium, and after a short walk up a dusty path (the security guard assures you the ground is at the end of it), the first thing you notice is the cling-clang of construction work before seeing metal scaffolding, the barebones of a three-storey structure and plenty of men in hard hats. Get closer to the construction, and there's a massive arc of mud to the left, suitable perhaps for a dirt-bike race. This place is going to host World Cup matches, you wonder.
It is only when you stride towards the mud track that you first glimpse the familiar green of a cricket outfield. There's a match on between the Sri Lankan and South African A teams, and just then Thilina Kandamby punches the ball towards long-on, and it rolls smoothly along the outfield. Once you have taken in the reassuring sight of the level and lush playing area, there is the largely-completed structure of the stand at the pavilion end. There's still work to be done on the corporate boxes on the upper tier, and there's no sign of the grandstand's roof yet, but the lower uncovered part of the stand is more or less finished. You can't help but notice another dirt-bike track sweeping from third man to extra cover on the right, complementing the one to your left, but you start to believe this venue can be ready for its big day in seven months' time.
Perhaps the biggest concern about a new stadium is over the manner in which the pitch will behave. Preparing a new turf pitch is a complicated art, but unlike the other two venues that SLC is developing for the World Cup (the R Premadasa in Colombo and a new one near the southern cost town Hambantota) which are yet to be properly tested, the pitches at Pallekele have had matches since November 2009. A chunk of last season's domestic Twenty20 matches took place in February, there has been a first-class and List A game as well, and touring international teams, including Ross Taylor's New Zealand side, are becoming regular fixtures. There haven't been any pitch-behaviour complaints during these matches, leaving the organisers supremely confident about the venue.
The Pallekele stadium is wholly owned by Sri Lanka Cricket and is set to displace the Asgiriya stadium, which has hosted Tests for nearly 25 years, as the international venue of choice around Kandy. It is being built by the government-owned State Engineering Corporation of Sri Lanka and is designed along the lines of SuperSport Park in Centurion. Like the South African stadium, Pallekele too will have a capacity of 22,000 and the muddy eyesores embracing the ground on both sides are soon expected to be transformed into a replica of Centurion's famed grass embankments.
The grass banks are part of a plan to ensure watching cricket at the stadium, nestled amid a ring of trees, provides a unique experience, unlike the concrete-sameness that blights some of the world's larger cricket venues. The under-construction three-storey structure that greets you at the entrance, the organisers say, will turn into a distinctive and futuristic-looking press box.
Built so close to Kandy, which as several congratulatory signboards remind you, is the home town of Muttiah Muralitharan, Pallekele's stadium could soon be renamed after Sri Lanka's greatest cricketer. Murali's already bid adieu to the Test scene, and the World Cup could well be his final appearance for the national team. Come March 10, when Pallekele hosts the Sri Lanka-Zimbabwe league game, expect Kandyans to pack the place for one last chance to see their favourite son.(ESPN CricInfo)