By Matt Hughes For The Daily Mail
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The ICC have bolstered their anti-corruption enforcement for the start of the latest global franchise tournament, the ILT20, which begins in Dubai today.
Sportsmail revealed last week that the ICC’s anti-corruption unit [ACU] have launched an investigation into six allegations of corruption taking place at a T10 tournament in Abu Dhabi last month, leading to an increased their presence on the ground for the competition in Dubai, which will feature 20 England players.
Joe Root will make his first international T20 appearance for four years when he plays for the Dubai Capitals against the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in the tournament’s opening game this afternoon, with the ICC’s ACU watching on closely.
The ICC have bolstered their anti-corruption enforcement for the latest white-ball global franchise tournament, the ILT20, which begins in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Friday
Sportsmail revealed last week that the ICC, cricket’s governing body, had launched an investigation into six incidents of alleged corruption at a T10 tournament in Abu Dhabi
It is understood that the ICC will have six anti-corruption managers at every game in Dubai – an increase on the four that were on duty at the T10 tournament that is being investigated – as well as an intelligence officer and investigator overseeing the whole competition.
The huge growth in short-form franchise leagues over the last few years has led to increased concern over corruption, as it has been accompanied by a dramatic rise in betting activity, much of it unregulated. The ILT20 is one of four franchise competitions taking place this month alone along with the Big Bash, the Bangladesh Premier League and the SA20 in South Africa, with the result that anti-corruption resources are being spread increasingly thinly.
The corruption safeguards in place vary from tournament to tournament, a problem exacerbated by the fact that ICC regulations permit full member countries to run their own anti-corruption programmes. With the financially stretched Bangladesh Cricket Board in charge there is just one anti-corruption manager at each game in the BPL for example, while Cricket South Africa have only assigned two officers to each fixture at the SA20 which launched earlier this week in Cape Town with a match featuring Jofra Archer and Jos Buttler.
The ICC probe is focused on the level of betting activity and reports of questionable activity around the teams. There is no suggestion any of the players pictured above are involved
ICC are investigating six allegations of corruption at a T10 competition in Abu Dhabi which was won by Deccan Gladiators, above. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by their players
ICC events such as World Cups in contrast usually operate with around 10 anti-corruptions officers, one of which is assigned to each team 24-hours-a-day. The anti-corruption officers’ main responsibility is to control access to the players at stadia and around hotels to prevent them being approached by potential corruptors, with all visitors and mobile phones banned from the Players and Match Officials Area at the ground.
The ICC work closely with the players and receive around 1200 reports from them of suspicious activity each year, which after being checked out leads to between 30 and 40 formal investigations.
The ECB are in charge of running anti-corruption operations in domestic cricket, and will have officers in place at each Hundred and Twenty20 Blast fixture this summer. In addition all professional players in England are forced to attend education workshops on anti-corruption before the start of every season, compulsory sessions which apply in both men’s and women’s cricket and are also delivered at Academy level. The sessions highlight the various corruption risks the players may face as well as how to report any approaches from suspicious individuals.
Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd
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