Sri Lanka promises to help match-fixing investigators

THE Sri Lankan cricket board has pledged to co-operate with an international investigation into match fixing after an undercover journalist exposed a plot to rig a forthcoming Test series against England.

The scheme, revealed yesterday in The Daily Telegraph, would have involved doctoring the wicket ahead of games, to ensure the pitch deteriorated to such an extent a draw became effectively impossible. Batsmen would be sure to lose their wickets cheaply, allowing crooked gamblers to win money betting against a draw.

In a report to be aired tonight on Al Jazeera, a reporter posing as a wouldbe beneficiary of the fix met with former cricketer Robin Morris from Mumbai; Tharindu Mendis, a player from Colombo; and Tharange Indika, a groundsman at Galle International Stadium where England are due to play in November. Asked whether he could engineer the wicket to ensure a result, Indika replies: “Yes, I can.” Morris said the England Test would be the next occasion such a fix was carried out.

Yesterday, the board of Sri Lanka Cricket said: “Sri Lanka Cricket will extend its fullest co-operation to the International Cricket Council to investigate the latest allegations levelled via media reports, over ‘match fixing’. Mr Ashley De Silva, CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket, is in contact with the CEO of the International Cricket Council, Mr David Richardson, and the ICC anti-corruption unit on the matter.”

Darren Gough, who played for Yorkshire and England, said: “The fact that people are taking money to prepare the pitch in a certain way is totally illegal and it needs to be stamped out. The ICC needs to sort this out.”

A spokesman for William Hill said: “We would treat the match as normal.” Yesterday bookmakers were still taking bets against the Test being drawn.

Fred Lord, the director of anti-corruption and transparency at the International Centre for Sport Security, said: “The ongoing ease of cricket’s corruptibility has been known by cricket insiders for decades. The fact that it’s getting worse is also well known, particularly in regional locations that are more susceptible to organised crime.”

Mr Morris denies wrongdoing, Mr Indika denies involvement in pitch-fixing, and Mr Mendis did not respond to requests for comment.