WE NEED FBI-STYLE POWERS TO STOP FIXERS
Corruption in cricket is still rife with Mohammad Irfan the latest from the Pakistan Super League to be provisionally suspended as part of an investigation. We see this type of thing more often in the T20 leagues around the world and, whether it’s spot-fixing or match-fixing, it needs to stop. It’s not a common occurrence but it’s very rarely seen in Test match cricket, and more seen in the domestic leagues.
The sheer nature of T20 cricket, which can be high-risk on the field, means it can be tempting for players to be groomed with gifts.
You are, perhaps, not sure whether gifts are for your performances with bat or ball, or if there is a deeper meaning.
I was offered a lot of money once to fix a match but it all started with being given little gifts.
It was never in my mind that he was going to ask me to fix a match, until the conversation when he actually did so. I was never going to accept and reported it straight away.
I was the one that originally made contact because I wanted to get into the property market in India while I was in the ICL. It was a real surprise when he came to Leicester a couple of years later to meet me and it was then I found out what he wanted.
He wanted to know the toss of the coin, who was going to bowl, who was going to win the power-play overs and the result. If I could give him three things then he would have gained a lot of money. But, as I say, I was never going to accept and I quickly reported it.
These guys know how to get into your head, and if you’re going over to Asia or somewhere for the first time, and you don’t know how the culture works, it can be very easy to fall into the trap.
We all know that underground betting goes on, but it’s hard to stop.
That doesn’t excuse the fixers, though. Some players might say that going out for dinner with a relative stranger when away from home for a long time is down to boredom – you have a lot of downtime in these tournaments. But a lot of it is down to greed. There are talks about anti-corruption before every tournament and everyone knows the risk. Perhaps these guys who are jetting across the world for these T20 leagues are easier targets because
Players get paid well for five or six weeks but the opportunity to gain wealth even quicker is tempting
they’re already making a lot of money.
Players get paid well for five or six weeks but the opportunity to gain wealth even quicker is tempting.
But not one player can win or lose a game. It’s more the spot-fixing.
It’s easier to do badly than it is to do well, but even then it’s not all down to you with the captain taking you off if your first over goes for 20 runs.
Mobile phones have to be handed in to management before matches, and that’s been happening for many years but more needs to be done.
The authorities need to have access to anybody’s phone and emails, and there needs to be suitable punishment if they are not given access. It sounds over the top but authorities need FBI-type powers.
This is a cancer in our sport that needs to be stamped out and the only way to do this is go secret service underground-style.
That shouldn’t be needed, though. If the authorities want to look into a club then they should be allowed. If you’ve got nothing to hide then you’ll have no worries.
Drug testers need to know your whereabouts so why shouldn’t other authorities, including team management?
In the Caribbean Premier League, we make sure we know if our guys are going to nip away for a night. Sometimes they spend an evening at home instead of the hotel but we make sure we know this.
It’s key for coaches to be involved in trying to stamp this out of the game, too. I make sure my teams have a big meeting when we first meet up to talk about values, what your mantra is as a team and your attitudes and behaviours.
It’s a group session and you get guys to go off in little teams and they come back with ideas and you find a common denominator.
You’d hope that every club, from academy to first teams, are doing things like that nowadays.
There’s more to management than throwing a few cricket balls and we need to stamp this out of the game.