England captain Andrew Strauss does not see enough “resolve” to curb match-fixing and betting in cricket and feels the ICC’s anti-corruption unit is “woefully under-resourced” to nab cheats.
“The only input I’ve had is with the anti-corruption people who came round during the World Cup. It seems to me that they are woefully under-resourced. I just don’t think they’ve got the resources to do it properly,” Strauss told the ‘London Evening Standard’
Strauss said though the sub-continent is the hotbed of illegal betting, there is no doubt that corruption in cricket is there in other countries as well.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Clearly most of the betting seems to go on in the sub-continent but I wouldn’t say it was just sub-continental players that are involved,” Strauss said.
“My gut feeling is there is more to it than we know about. I haven’t seen any resolve to deal with the issue. It is hard for me to comment because I don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors,” he added.
Strauss was England’s captain in the infamous Lord’s Test against Pakistan last year, during which rival skipper Salman Butt and seamers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer conspired to send down deliberate no-balls as part of a ‘spot-fixing’ scam.
ADVERTISEMENT
Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ijaz Butt, at that time, had accused English players of throwing matches for money and Strauss said the allegation which was later withdrawn this left him enraged.
“I was quite emotional myself about it. My original view was our integrity had been brought into question. We got quite close to not playing the one-dayer at Lord’s.
“But over the course of the evening it became a lot clearer to me that actually the right thing to do was to play.
We didn’t feel overjoyed to be playing the game or that series but we got through it.
“I am still hopeful that good will come out of it. But they certainly don’t seem to be getting anywhere nearer to the bottom of the whole spot fixing/match-fixing saga,” he said.