Cricket: ICC investigating 50 corruption allegations after World Cup players reveal fixing approaches

Several players at the Cricket World Cup - won by England, above - have reported match-fixing approaches in other competitions. Photo / Photosport

The head of cricket's anti-corruption unit has revealed that 50 cases of possible wrongdoing are currently under investigation and are acting on intelligence gathered from players at the 2019 World Cup.

Ahead of the 20th anniversary of one of cricket's darkest days - the fixed Centurion Test between South Africa and England, which led to Hansie Cronje being banned from the sport for life - the revelations from Alex Marshall, the general manager of the International Cricket Council's ACU, are a reminder that the sport's fight against corruption is far from won.

Marshall told The Daily Telegraph UK that players at the World Cup in England reported they had been approached prior to the tournament by suspicious individuals who tried to recruit them to fix in franchise Twenty20 leagues, although the ICC are confident that the tournament itself was clean after security measures - including having officers with each team - were tightened.

"We got very good feedback because we showed players pictures of current corruptors," Marshall said. "That then led to several reports from people playing in World Cup about contact they had from those corruptors about T20 events in the future.

"None of them related to approaches to fix in the World Cup. At this point as far as I know it looks as though the World Cup was clean."

Six international captains have reported approaches from corruptors since he took over the running of the unit in 2017, a point which will spark dark memories of the Cronje scandal, one of the most notorious incidents of corruption in cricket's modern era.

Cronje was the clean-cut, deeply religious and widely admired captain of South Africa when his side took on England in a dead rubber at Centurion on Jan 14, 2000. Rain left a draw looking the most likely result until he offered England's captain, Nasser Hussain, an attractive run chase of 249 on the final day.

Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan was banned for one year after failing to report being approached by a bookie. Photo / Photosport

The move was widely hailed as a triumph of sportsmanship at the time, but in April that year it was revealed Cronje had accepted money and a leather jacket from his bookmaker contact to guarantee a result in the game. It was just the start. A massive scandal unfolded and Cronje was unmasked as a man who had taken thousands of pounds from bookies in previous years.

Then, there was no anti-corruption unit or code of conduct. Now the players are briefed regularly by the ICC who have the power to seize phones and recently banned Shakib Al-Hasan, the Bangladesh superstar all-rounder, simply for failing to report approaches.

Marshall - whose unit sifts through around 1,000 pieces of evidence annually - says captains like Cronje remain the ideal target for fixers.

"The corruptors absolutely love captains because they make decisions on the field," he said.

"Next in line is the opening batsmen and two opening bowlers, particularly in T20. The corruptors are very well resourced. They can put a lot of money on the table.

"There is always the risk someone will fall for it. The big difference is there was not an anti corruption code in Cronje's day. There was not the same education or an anti corruption unit like mine.

"In cricket we are a bit unusual. We will go after all the corruptors, even those outside our code. We have had them arrested and detained by immigration in three countries in recent months after telling the local police that this person is a suspected corruptor and moving through your borders. We have taken an aggressive approach towards the corruptors which other sports don't."

The major front in the fight against corruption in the new decade is franchise T20 tournaments.

The sums of money on offer are tempting, particularly for players below the top tier.

Leading international captains, as Cronje would be these days, are paid so well and have too much to lose that they are now out of reach for fixers. The same goes for most international players.

Former South Africa cricket captain Hanse Cronje. Photo / Photosport

Instead they focus their attention on younger cricketers, associates, under-19s and women's cricketers.

These are the levels of the game where players may be more naive about who they associate with and can be groomed.

They also simply do not earn the same money as top players so there is greater temptation.

Team owners in franchise leagues are also one of the main areas for Marshall to investigate.

His team have built up a large database of intelligence and will report bookies to local authorities.

Some have been turned away by immigration trying to enter countries hosting ICC events.

Individuals have been detained recently at passport control in Zimbabwe and the Maldives after tip offs from the ICC.

Potential team owners have been thrown out of leagues based on intelligence held by the ICC.

"A lot of recent investigations have stemmed from franchise cricket and often below the very top tier of franchise cricket but where the new model of team ownership brings in people from outside normal cricket structures," said Marshall.

"You also have teams not used to playing with each other and a backroom staff and coach who are not familiar with each other so it is quite different from the normal club, county or international team.

"Power is often held by the owners or backers behind the owners. In some cases that has been a root in in attempting to corrupt cricketers.

"The other development is the corrupters targeting less well-off teams in the top tier or going the next level down with the associates. We had a qualifying event for World T20 in the UAE recently where three teams had some investigations attached to them including the UAE team where several have been charged and suspended. Other investigations are ongoing."

The motivation behind fixers lies in the vast sums of money bet on even minor Twenty20 leagues.

The Afghan Premier League in 2018 was hit by many rumours of fixing, with players reporting approaches to the ICC.

Former South African international Herschelle Gibbs was banned for six months in 2000 for his involvement in the Hanse Cronje scandal. Photo / Photosport

But with hundreds of millions bet on each match, it is easy to see why fixers will try to recruit players and sneak an advantage over the bookies.

"Even at an event like the Afghan Premier League in 2018 we had reports from the regulated market that around £25million was being gambled on individual matches. These are matches with 300 people in the stadium and very little attention in mainstream cricket media," said Marshall.

"The indications are if there are £25million in the regulated market then the volumes in the unregulated markets in the sub-continent will be much, much higher than that. Therefore if you spend £10-30,000 to get one of those players to underperform or the captain to make decisions then the rewards on the betting markets can be many, many times more than your outlay on buying a corrupt player."

The ICC has the power to seize phones and download call and messaging records, with failure to supply phones resulting in a two year ban for non-cooperation.

"We have had a massive increase in intelligence over the last couple of years. Three years ago we might have received 200 pieces of information in a year, now we are getting more than 1000," said Marshall.

"We have now prosecuted a lot of the top corruptors in the world because we now have a better intelligence.

"We are looking at between 40 and 50 live cases. It is quite consistent around those numbers now. We charged more people last year than ever before [12] and it will be similar next year."