‘No substance’ to Ashes spot-fix claims, say chiefs
CRICKET Australia chief James Sutherland insists there is “no substance” to claims that the third Ashes Test was targeted by match fixers.
The Sun newspaper has reported illicit Indian bookmakers attempted to manipulate aspects of the match in Perth and have passed on details of their investigation to the International Cricket Council’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), who are now looking into it.
Both the England & Wales Cricket Board and Cricket Australia have issued statements confirming no players were approached ahead of the Test.
Alex Marshall, general manager of the ACU, backed that up, saying:“There is no indication that any players in this Test have been in contact with the alleged fixers.”
It was reported that the gang, working with an Australian called the ‘silent man’, were charging up to £138,000 to rig certain elements of the match – known as spot-fixing.
England captain Joe Root said he had been “made aware” of the claims and told BBC’s Test Match Special: “It’s very sad.”
His opposite number, Steve Smith, added: “As far as I know, there’s nothing that’s been going on or anything like that. There’s no place for that in our game.”
An ECB statement, meanwhile, read: “We are aware of these allegations and there is no suggestion that any of the England team is involved in any way.”
The allegations led to Sutherland, ECB chief executive Tom Harrison, ICC chief Dave Richardson and Marshall making an emergency conference call just hours after being published.
And at a hastily-arranged media conference outside the WACA before the start of the first day’s play, Sutherland said:“What we heard from Alex Marshall is there’s no evidence, substance or justification based on the dossier of information the ICC has received from the news outlet based on ICC intelligence from previous investigations.
“There’s no substance to these allegations or justification to suspect that this Test match, or indeed the Ashes series as a whole, is subject to corrupt activities.
“Alex Marshall also went on to say that there’s no evidence, substance or justification to suggest that any player from either side or match official from the ICC or Cricket Australia or the ECB are any way under suspicion or have been contacted by alleged fixers.
“A lot of measures have been put in place over the last few years to ensure the game is protected but, I repeat, there’s no substance based on intelligence that the ICC has to suggest we should have any significant concerns.”