Melbourne: Reacting to allegations made by television channel Al Jazeera about spot-fixing in a Test involving Australia in India, Cricket Australia (CA) has asked for raw footage and un-edited material to investigate the matter.
“Together with the ICC, we are aware of the investigation by Al Jazeera into alleged corruption in cricket,” CA chief executive James Sutherland was quoted as saying in a statement.
“Although not having been provided an opportunity to view the documentary or any raw footage, our long-standing position on these matters is that credible claims will be treated very seriously and fully investigated. Cricket Australia will continue to fully cooperate with the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit in its review of the matter.
“Neither the ICC nor Cricket Australia is aware of any credible evidence linking Australian players to corruption in the game. Cricket Australia and the ICC take a zero-tolerance approach against anyone trying to compromise the integrity of the game. We urge Al Jazeera to provide all un-edited materials and any other evidence to the ICC investigation team, so, if appropriate, a full and thorough investigation can be conducted,” the statement added.
In a documentary, it was shown that during a certain period of the game some Australian batsmen scored at a rate specified by fixers for the purposes of betting, which is illegal in India.
The match in question is the Australia-India Test in Ranchi in March 2017.
Earlier, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) also said it will give its “fullest cooperation” to any investigation into match-fixing. An Al Jazeera documentary is believed to allege groundsmen in Galle are being bribed to alter pitches for Test matches involving teams such as Australia and England.
“Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to state that it has zero tolerance towards corruption and will take immediate action against any person involved in the alleged incident, if found guilty,” the SLC said in a statement.
“Sri Lanka Cricket is constantly engaged with the ICC and is following its guidelines on how to handle anti-corruption operations for the forthcoming tours in Sri Lanka,” it added.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has already launched an investigation, saying it took the allegations reported in the documentary “very seriously” and urged “all evidence and supporting material” to be shared with the investigators.
“The ICC is aware of an investigation into corruption in cricket by a news organisation and as you would expect we will take the contents of the programme and any allegations it may make very seriously,” the ICC said in a statement.
