adminANTI-CORRUPTION forces are investigating the most detailed evidence yet of widespread fixing across the cricketing world.
Telegraph Sport can reveal that Lou Vincent, the former New Zealand batsman, has provided officials from the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit with a treasure trove of information about matches which were targeted for spot-fixing and the names of players who were involved.
Domestic matches played by English counties are among those about which Vincent has provided detailed evidence from the period when he was playing for Lancashire and Sussex, along with details of fixing in at least four other countries.
He has also informed them of the details of an approach by another corrupt player to a current international captain, who turned down the offer and reported it to anti-corruption officials.
Investigators from the ICC’s anti-corruption unit are working with detectives employed by cricket boards around the world to piece together a complex case which they believe will emerge as the biggest fixing scandal since the Hansie Cronje affair 14 years ago, and possibly even more significant than that.
Vincent has agreed a plea bargain in the hope of avoiding a criminal prosecution for his involvement in and knowledge of spot-fixing in five or more countries over a four-year period between 2008-2012.
He revealed in December he would co-operate with detectives and confessed to an ICC tribunal investigating fixing in Bangladesh earlier this year that he had been approached by an illegal bookmaker.
It is understood the ICC’s anti-corruption police are close to charging a former Pakistan international cricketer based on evidence provided by Vincent. The investigation crosses several international jurisdictions and is expected to take another 12-18 months to complete with anti-corruption officers determined to use the information and land convictions.
Several of his allegations are believed to involve matches played in the now defunct Indian Cricket League, where he said players were offered bribes of money and prostitutes by shadowy figures involved in the tournament. He has also provided names and dates of meetings with fixers which are being cross-referenced by the ICC.
His evidence has laid bare the threat of corruption to Twenty20 competitions in England and elsewhere which interest fixers in Asia when they are screened live on television in India.
Vincent became a roving Twenty20 specialist playing in England, India, Zimbabwe, South Africa and New Zealand when his international career ended in 2007 after 23 Tests and 103 one-day internationals.
— Telegraph.
Online Reporter