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ICC Give Response To “Cricket Match Fixers” Broadcasted In 2018

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The International Cricket Council (ICC) have concluded their investigation into the documentary programme “Cricket’s Match Fixers”, broadcast by Al Jazeera in 2018, with no charges to be bought under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code due to insufficient credible and reliable evidence.

The investigation focused on three main areas: the claims made by the programme, the suspects who were part of it and how the programme gathered evidence.

The programme alleged two matches were fixed, India v England in 2016 and India v Australia in 2017, with the findings concluding that the passages of play identified as being allegedly fixed were entirely predictable, and therefore implausible to fix.

All five participants who featured in the programme have been interviewed by the ICC integrity unit and there is no evidence to lay charges.

Speaking on the findings, ICC GM, Alex Marshall, said: “We welcome the reporting of alleged corrupt activity within cricket as there is no place for such conduct in our sport, but we also need to be satisfied there is sufficient evidence to sustain charges against participants.”

“In the case of claims aired in this programme, there are fundamental weaknesses in each of the areas we have investigated that make the claims unlikely and lacking in credibility, a viewpoint that has been corroborated by four independent experts,” Marshall said.

“On the basis of the programme, the participants to the code who were filmed appear to have behave in a questionable manner, however, we have been unable to assess the full context of the conversations that took place beyond what was seen on screen versus what the participants claim actually happened.

“This combined with the absence of any other credible evidence means there are insufficient grounds to bring charges under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.

“Should any new substantial evidence come to light I will re-examine the case.

“But at present I am comfortable with the conclusion of the investigation and the thoroughness with which it was undertaken,” he said.

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