ASHES FIXING STORM

ICC’s grave concern over betting scandal

The International Cricket Council spoke of its ‘grave concern’ last night after receiving information allegedly relating to attempts to fix the third Ashes Test in Perth.

The Sun newspaper handed over a dossier to the world game’s governing body following an investigation in which two Indian men — Sobers Joban and Priyank Saxena — claimed they could influence events in the most famous Test series of them all.

Although it was reported that no england players are involved in any potential wrongdoing, the two men — who were secretly filmed during what the newspaper described as a ‘four-month investigation’ — insisted they were working with a fixer in the Australian game known as the Silent Man.

Joban, a former age- group Indian cricketer, and Saxena, a tobacco businessman and bookie, claimed players they work with signal that a fix is on using small gestures out in the middle, such as a change of gloves. Joban told undercover reporters: ‘I will give you work in Ashes Test. Session runs. Maybe day one, two, three. We have two session work, one session costs 60 lakh rupees (£69,000), two sessions 120 lakh rupees (£138,000).

‘If you are interested Priyank will talk to the Silent Man. If you want to go with him all right, but you will not sit in meeting. I don’t know what he give, script or session. Right now if I tell you he want one crore (£116,000), he might want five crores (£580,000).’

Should the ICC’s own investigations uncover evidence to confirm the story, it would be the biggest blow to cricket’s credibility