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| Sunday, 17 February 2002 |
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Cricket still attracts billion-dollar betting, says top watchdog SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates, Feb 16 (AFP) - An estimated one billion dollars are bet on key cricket matches, the sport's top security official said on Friday while promising a corruption-free World Cup next year. Paul Condon, director of the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption unit (ACU), said he was confident the evil of match-fixing was on the verge of being uprooted. "World cricket is on top of corruption," Condon told a media conference here before the start of the second one-day international between Pakistan and the West Indies. "Our investigations have shown that, at an average, 150 million dollars are at stake in legal and illegal gambling during cricket internationals around the world. "The figure rises to around a billion dollars in important games where there is a lot of interest. "But I am certain the challenge from corrupt influences has been supressed. Cricket is much cleaner now where the outcome is decided on merit and not by grubby, seedy deals," Condon said. The ACU was established in the year 2000 after the match-fixing scandal rocked cricket and led to life bans being imposed on three former captains, Mohammad Azharuddin (India), Hansie Cronje (South Africa) and Salim Malik (Pakistan). Condon, visiting this desert venue to oversee the new security measures in place for the ongoing Pakistan-West Indies series, said he was certain that no match-fixing had taken place anywhere in the world for the last 18 months. "I can say with absolute authority and certainity that no event-fixing has taken place since September 2000 when the ACU began its investigations," Condon said. "Of course, some attempts have been made to fix games, but these attempts have been foiled by our investigators with the co-operation of the respective cricket boards around the world. "We have a database of potential trouble-makers, but I will tell them to take a holiday when the next World Cup is played in South Africa a year from now. "They will not have a chance to corrupt players or influence results." The 1999 World Cup in England was marred by allegations of some Pakistan matches being fixed, but Condon said the problem will not arise at the next event in February-March 2003. "The measures being put in place in South Africa and around the cricket world will ensure that the World Cup is played entirely on merit," he said. "There will be sensible, but stringent security regime in place, which will act as a major deterrent to would-be corruptors. "At the same time it will be as unobtrusive as possible, as far as players and spectators are concerned." Former London police chief Condon and his unit will be based in South Africa from December this year, three months before the start of the tournament to review the arrangements. The ACU is also appointing five full-time security managers, financed by the International Cricket Council (ICC), to look after matches played around the Test nations. Their role will include attendance at all future international series, with each being responsible for two teams. For administrative reasons, the regions have been divided as: Pakistan/Bangladesh, India/Sri Lanka, Australia/New Zealand, South Africa/Zimbabwe and England/West Indies. The names of the security managers will be named after the ICC's Executive Board meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, next month, Condon said. Meanwhile, in a major boost to organisers of matches in Sharjah, Condon described the venue as "clean with excellent facilities." "Sharjah has acted swiftly and decisively in acting on upon the security recommendations of my unit," Condon said. India, a major crowd-puller here, has refused to take part in Sharjah tournaments in recent times on the pretext that matches here were played under the influence of bookmakers. |
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