ICC ACU head worried over corruption in T20 leagues, cites Afghanistan example for success

The International Cricket Council on Tuesday imposed eight-year bans on United Arab Emirates (UAE) cricketers Mohammad Naveed and Shaiman Anwar Butt. The two cricketers were found guilty of breaching ICC Anti-Corruption Code as they tried to fix matches in the T20 World Cup qualifier in 2019.

ICC ACU General Manager opens up on corruption in cricket and reveals strategies to curb the issue

While cricket as a sport has made great strides in the associate nations, it has come at a cost. The issues like match fixing in cricket, illegal activities and corruption have become a part of the sport with players being exposed to illegal betting, spot-fixing and ball-tampering etc. Recently, ICC Anti-Corruption Unit General Manager Alex Marshall opened up on match fixing in cricket, corruption and how T20 leagues are causing a threat to the game.

While speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Marshall said that the thing which makes the top associate nations so attractive to the corruptors and match-fixers is the relatively low cricket income of people from Nepal, UAE, Oman and some of the African cricket nations. He further said that the players from these countries are being paid very little if anything at all Marshall cited the example of Zimbabwe to explain his point.

The ICC ACU General manager stated that Zimbabwe are among the poorest of the full member nations which is why players there are being offered $30,000 to commit corrupt conduct. On the other hand, the players in the Associates are offered $10,000. while players in European club matches get offered 3,000 Euros. According to Marshall, that's the sort of scale of the offers. Elaborating on the same, he reckoned that an offer of $10,000 to a player in some of these countries is an awful lot of money. Marshall further said that an offer of $30,000 in Zimbabwe would probably help one buy a house.

Speaking about the strategies to curb these activities, Marshall said that at the ICCtheir fundamental objective is to see the growth and development of cricket. He added that the idea that the Associates are going to get better and more extensive coverage is absolutely brilliant and they celebrate it along with everyone else. Marshall acknowledged that they also recognise that the more popular any form of cricket becomes, the more likely it is that corruptors will target it which is why they are doing a whole load of different things.

He revealed that one of the things is that they're working with all the Associates, but particularly the ones who are higher risk, to provide them with material around education and what they should do in the event of anyone receiving an approach or things for them to look out for in the way they run their matches. Marshall opined that they will also risk assess which of those matches are most likely to be targeted and subsequently put-put anti-corruption resources into that particular match.

Marshall also spoke on how Afghanistan Premier League is a more favourable option for bookies. Comparing APL to a Test match, Marshall said that with its evening short-form matches, the APL is a much more attractive option to the viewing audience which is why they're going to bet on it. He further said that corruptors go after leagues like APL and Global T20 Canada because they like weak governance chaos because it allows them in.

Marshall reiterated that the bookies love franchise events where all the teams have not been sold with three weeks to go and the people running the event are desperate to secure the next owner or the next two owners at the last minute. According to Marshall, corruptors look for these opportunities and APL is a very good example of poor governance, an appalling run event, dreadful accreditation and a whole host of other issues that just means it is very attractive to corruptors.

Marshall stated that they absolutely want to see a higher profile for Associate cricket and he thinks it's coming because of the pathway and qualifier events where according to him, some excellent cricket will be played. Citing the example of Afghanistan cricket, Marshall said that a number of Afghan players (Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Mohammad Nabi) have risen to prominence and are playing around the world which makes him believe that more new players will come through. 

SOURCE: ICC-CRICKET.COM