adminSYDNEY. — Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has called for swift action on cricket’s corruption crisis, saying there is nothing worse for the game than the shadow hanging over it. Ponting said match-fixing and other rumours had circulated for years and he pleaded with the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption watchdog and individual boards to act quickly so players and fans could have full faith that what happens on the field was legitimate.
“We’ve all been aware of a certain amount of corruption in the game for a long time now and there’s always just been a bit of smoke, there hasn’t been much fire around it,” he said late on Wednesday.
Ex-New Zealand batsman Lou Vincent and his former Sussex teammate Naved Arif were last week charged with fixing in English county cricket.
The most high-profile cricket fixing scandal in recent years led to the jailing of three Pakistan Test cricketers — then captain Salman Butt, Mohammed Asif and Mohammed Aamer in 2011.
Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria is also serving a life ban imposed in 2012 by the England and Wales Cricket Board for spot-fixing in a county match. — AFP.
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