Match-fixer not yet named by Cricket SA
THE identity of the “intermediary” at the centre of cricket’s latest match-fixing saga remains a mystery beyond their gender, but doubts about the integrity of the semifinal of the franchise Twenty20 competition last week would appear to be unfounded.
A Cricket SA official said the person could not yet be named as the investigation is still on.
“We cannot assume he is guilty, but what is clear is that he has to explain himself,” the official said.
On Tuesday, Cricket SA said it had “charged a perpetrator, operating as an intermediary, under its anticorruption code” with “contriving to fix, or otherwise improperly influence aspects of the (franchise Twenty20 competition) and with failing or refusing, without compelling justification, to co-operate with an investigation by its designated anticorruption official”.
The person had been “provisionally suspended”. That meant they “may not be involved in any capacity in any match or any other kind of function, authorised, organised, sanctioned, recognised or supported in any way” by official cricket organisations.
As Cricket SA is not a lawenforcement body, it does not have the authority to charge anyone with a crime. But it does have the power to police the behaviour of its employees and agents. That suggests the “intermediary” either works for Cricket SA or its franchises or affiliated provinces and clubs, or is connected to a company or organisation that has been contracted by Cricket SA.
It can also be a person who has agreed to abide by its terms and conditions — a wide field including administrators, coaches, umpires, scorers, ground staff, contract workers such as stadium cleaners, caterers and marketing executives, dressingroom attendants and members of the media.
The use of the world “intermediary” would seem to remove players from the equation. But the concerned person’s role would presumably be to carry information between players and figures in cricket’s gambling underworld.
Although the investigation was launched as a result of events earlier in the franchise Twenty20 tournament, some have speculated whether the probe was related to the manner in which the Cobras lost the plot in their semifinal against the Dolphins at Kingsmead last Wednesday.
Having whittled their required run rate down to a-run-a-ball off the last 30 deliveries, which they reached with seven wickets standing, the Cobras scored 24 runs and lost by five wickets.
But the Cricket SA official said the probe had nothing to do with the bizarre events in Durban.