London, August 20: Cricket’s world governing body said Wednesday it had “no evidence of any illegal activity” as a result of a betting-related approach to an unnamed Australian player during the Ashes series.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) praised the player involved and the Australian management for reporting the incident which it confirmed took place after the second Ashes Test last month.
An ICC statement read: “There is no evidence of any illegal activity as a result of this approach, which took place following the second Test at Lord’s in July, and the ICC would like to place on record its praise for the player approached and the Australia team management for reporting the issue.
“Approaches to players do happen and it would be naive to assume otherwise; if they did not then there would be no need for the continuing existence of the ACSU (Anti-Corruption and Security Unit).
“However, the ICC is confident that all approaches are being reported, it is proud of systems and education processes in place which have created a widespread culture of integrity among the world’s top players and it is pleased those players have confidence in the ACSU to report such matters.”
Australia take on England in the decisive fifth Test at The Oval starting Thursday.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting declined to comment on the betting probe, saying his team had other things to think about.
“We’ll let the ICC look after it,” he said.
The ICC said there was “no indication” that the Ashes or the preceding World Twenty20 tournament had been affected by corruption.
The Cricinfo website reported Tuesday the approach was made in the bar of the Australian team’s London hotel following their defeat at Lord’s in the second Test.
The player immediately alerted senior officials and, following ICC protocol, team manager Steve Bernard filed a report with ACSU, the report said.
The unit was formed in 2000 in response to the match-fixing scandals involving then international captains Hansie Cronje, Salim Malik and Mohammad Azharuddin, who were all banned for life.
It is headed by Paul Condon, a former Commissioner of London’s Metropolitan Police.
—–Agencies