Watson: Match-fixing probe could kill cricket

Reuters

FEARS: Australian all-rounder Shane Watson.

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Players are growing increasingly suspicious of whether the International Cricket Council wants to expose the full extent of corruption in the game, fearing the truth could kill cricket - as it emerged yesterday David Warner is the fifth Australian player to have been approached by suspected bookmakers.

Warner made an official complaint which was forwarded by NSW to the ICC, after he and some Blues teammates were fronted by a group at a restaurant during the Champions League tournament in India last year.

Like the approaches made by a fixer to Shane Watson, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee during last year's tour of England, the ICC could not take any solid action on the Warner case because it could only prove the men wanted general information without mentioning bribes.

"We were sitting there and a group of local guys approached us, asking us questions about the game on TV and games the following day," Warner told the Herald last night. "We didn't know who they were, interested supporters or what. We told them to go away. They left straight away. I then reported the incident to an official of Cricket NSW."

Watson expressed his concern over the lack of breakthroughs made by the ICC's anti-corruption unit, and called for it to make public all of its investigations for transparency.

"I don't think the ICC want to get to the bottom of it, because it could run so deep, but now it is in the public, now everyone knows about it they have to act, they can't cover it up," Watson said. "All the other stuff the ICC anti-corruption unit had in their pipeline, they've got to bring that to the surface."

Asked if the ugly truth could ruin the game, Watson didn't hesitate: "Yes it could . . . what is happening already is ruining the game.

"What happened during the Sydney Test, which is one of the most special moments of my career . . . to have that talked about being tainted is very sad, and most probably for the people at the game as well. People start to think that emotion I had that day was fabricated.

"These are the reasons the ICC has to really step in and totally get on top of this.

"They've known these things could have been going on, that's why the anti-corruption unit was set up, they've waited for a newspaper to bring it to light.

"There's no doubt when things change in a game, people will start thinking: 'Is that just how the game panned out or is it because people might have been paid in different ways to change the direction of the game?'

"I'm more sad than anything. One thing we definitely don't need is what's going on, because it is horrific for the game."

It also emerged yesterday Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal were approached in January.

This approach was also reported to the ICC.

The ICC defended its capabilities, with chief executive Haroon Lorgat stressing the anti-corruption and security unit could not set up a sting because evidence would be inadmissable in court under entrapment laws. Lorgat also put responsibility on the players.

"We have identified corrupt individuals and advised players to stay away from them," Lorgat said.

"We need cooperation from the players. They must listen to us and also have discipline.

"We have a lot of measures in place. These measures work by and large. There have been many approaches [to players] reported and followed up.

"The responsibility is on us to rebuild confidence in the game. We must implement additional measures if needed but, rest assured, the ICC will do everything in its power to ensure that confidence is rebuilt."

Haddin said world cricket could survive without Pakistan in light of the spot-fixing allegations.

Mazhar Majeed, the agent at the centre of the scandal, has been arrested by British customs officers over claims that he has laundered tens of millions of pounds through football club Croydon Athletic.

The businessman, 35, along with his wife and another man, were detained and questioned by officials as part of a second criminal inquiry related to the alleged corruption racket.

The ICC has sent a security agent to Pakistan to interview Veena Malik, the former girlfriend of paceman Mohammad Asif, who she claims accepted money from illegal bookies before the tour of Australia.

Meanwhile, Australian gambling regulators have been urged to consider banning bets on all cricket matches involving Pakistan.

In the aftermath of the apparent spot-fixing scandal involving Pakistani captain Salman Butt, Asif and Mohammad Amir, Victorian gaming minister Tony Robinson has ordered the state's gambling regulator to urgently review whether it is appropriate to allow betting on matches involving Pakistan.

with Jesse Hogan

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