England, Australia back players over match-fixing allegations

DUBAI: Cricket Australia and the ECB have said there was no “credible evidence” linking Australian and English Test players to spot-fixing, as alleged by TV channel Al Jazeera in its documentary, which focuses on various forms of corruption in the sport.

The Tests in question are the England-India Test in Chennai in December 2016, and the Australia-India Test in Ranchi in March 2017.Al Jazeera’s allegations are that during certain periods of the game some England and Australian batsmen scored at a rate specified by fixers for the purposes of betting.

Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, said the “limited information” the board had was discussed with “all the England players” and they “emphatically deny the allegations, have stated categorically that the claims are false and they have our full support.”

CA requested Al Jazeera for raw footage and un-edited material to assess the allegations and determine whether an investigation was necessary. The BCCI said they were working closely with the ICC.

In the documentary, a person Al Jazeera identified as an Indian Aneel Munawar, is seen naming three England players and two Australian players to the undercover reporter as being part of the fix.

The names of the cricketers were edited out in the documentary but Al Jazeera said it would pass on the information to the relevant authorities.The channel said the two Australians named by Munawar had not responded to the allegations, while the three England players “categorically denied the allegations” through their lawyers.

CA said it had not yet had the opportunity to view the raw footage containing the allegations, and requested Al Jazeera for the same. “Together with the ICC, we are aware of the investigation by Al Jazeera into alleged corruption in cricket,” CA chief executive James Sutherland said 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.”

A similar message emerged from the ECB. “There is nothing we have seen that would make us doubt any of our players in any way whatsoever,” Harrison said.

“Neither ECB nor the ICC is aware of any credible evidence connecting any England players to any form of corruption. ECB had been aware of the planned Al Jazeera documentary for some time but have not been given the full content.”