Match-fixing allegations rocks Ashes

– Cricket chiefs voiced “grave concern” but said there was no evidence the third Ashes Test between Australia and England has been corrupted after a match-fixing bombshell rocked the series.

British newspaper The Sun alleged two bookmakers, including an Indian “Mr Big”, had offered to sell it details of rigged periods of play in the Test in Perth which could be bet on to win huge sums.

No Australian or England players were named as being involved.

The tabloid said their undercover reporters were asked for up to £140 000 to “spot fix” markets such as the exact amount of runs scored in an over.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) said the revelations were of “grave concern” and an investigation had been launched, but it did not believe the match had been tainted.

“From my initial assessment of the material, there is no evidence, either from The Sun or via our own intelligence, to suggest the current Test match has been corrupted,” said the ICC’s anti-corruption chief Alex Marshall.

Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland said the allegations were serious, but he was confident, based on the dossier handed to the ICC, there was no reason “to suspect that this Test match or indeed the Ashes series as a whole is subject to corrupt activities”.

He added that all players were educated on a regular basis about the risks of corruption.

The Indian pair – secretly filmed at hotels in Dubai and Delhi during the paper’s four-month investigation – claimed players would signal the fix was on by making a subtle gesture, such as changing their gloves.

Spotters in the crowd then tell bookies who put millions of bets into the Indian betting market.

The Indian fixers claimed they could get players to follow “scripts” – such how many runs would be scored in a session, or an innings, when a wicket would fall and what a team would do if it won the toss, The Sun said.

Cricket has been dogged by corruption cases in recent years.

In February, two Pakistan players – Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif – were caught in a spot-fixing scandal which rocked their Twenty20 league held in the United Arab Emirates.

They were both banned for five years. – AFP

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