In recent exclusive remarks to PakPassion.net, Tim May expresses his concern over the ever present danger of corruption in cricket and feels that cricket boards round the world should actively seek information from players to curb this threat.

 by MenInG (May 4th 2012)

To the casual observer, the world of cricket is in the midst of a phenomenally prosperous phase of its two hundred year history. This is an era where domestic and international players are being rewarded handsomely for playing in a variety of privately run leagues which are endorsed by the boards of their respective countries who, in turn, are filling their coffers as never before. The audiences who are the lifeblood of this game are being treated to non-stop entertainment, all year round. The golden age of cricket, it would seem, is upon us.

But all is not well in this Utopia. Financial success, the scent of money and the lure of “megabucks” has also exposed a darker side to this game. In the summer of 2010, a young man known for his prolific talent as a bowler and some of his senior colleagues literally brought the game of cricket to its knees, causing immense damage to its hitherto noble reputation.

Mohammed Amir, Mohammed Asif and Salman Butt were convicted of crimes which involved the acceptance of financial rewards in exchange for bowling no-balls. Whilst there had always been whispers of foul play in the game and a few half hearted attempts at eradication of this menace, it was not until that summer that the term “spot fixing” became a common word associated with the game and the body charged with it supervision, The International Cricket Council (ICC), swung into action.

The ICC, for its part, has struggled to present a brave face to the world regarding the evil of corruption with the formation of a specialized unit, the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) as well as public displays of intent to tackle this evil. The take home message from ICCs publicity machine is that corruption is being met head on by active measures employed by all member Boards and a situation similar to the one posed by the Pakistani trio is unlikely to arise again. Many in the know would beg to differ, quoting the alleged approach of bookies to players in the recently concluded Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) or the recent conviction of Mervyn Westfield as examples of the dangers that lurk in and around cricket fields.

As the CEO of the Federation of International Cricketers Association (FICA), an organization formed to protect the interests of all professional cricketers, Tim May has a vested interest in ensuring the integrity of the game. In recent exclusive remarks to PakPassion.net, Tim expresses his concern over the ever present danger of corruption in cricket and feels that cricket boards round the world should actively seek information from players to curb this threat.

Whilst it may be true that as a result of the much publicized conviction of the Pakistani players, the menace of “Spotfixing” and associated crimes would have been dealt a body blow, May is of the opinion that this could simply be a tip of an iceberg – needing constant effort and vigilance from the authorities.

“I’d like to think that cricket was clean at the moment, but I think I’d be naive to think that. There’s always chatter amongst players that something’s not looking appropriate or whatever. If cricket was clean, I don’t think we’d have the ACSU there anymore, but the ICC’s ACSU is still there, they’re busy. People are still approaching players, we’re well aware that people are still approaching players to conduct themselves in these activities. I think we’d be naive to think that some player, somewhere hasn’t accepted that, whether by being forced into that situation by some sort of blackmail, or he has decided that he’ll take that risk. I don’t think that we can be naive to say that it doesn’t exist in the game. Again, I don’t know that that’s a fact, but I think it would be naive to think otherwise.”

The dust had hardly settled on the convictions and subsequent sentencing of Pakistani trio, when news broke of another crisis – this time involving cricketers in what is regarded as the cradle of Cricket. Mervyn Westfield was tried and convicted of fixing a county game – a conviction made possible by a tip-off by other players in the circuit. Putting aside the gravity of the crime itself, the possibility of using players to police their own game emerged as an interesting concept. 

“I think the thing that the ECB did as well was that they basically provided an amnesty if you came forward to report information, either that you may have been involved in or that you suspected. The code that exists within the ICC and the anti-corruption code, and the codes that should exist at this stage in all countries, actually say that it is an offence not to report any suspicion or knowledge of match-fixing or corrupt practices as defined by the code, to the authorities. What they did was they provided an amnesty to the players and just said you won’t be subject to the various laws and sanctions under the anti-corruption code if you come forth with any sort of information. My understanding is that they didn’t really gather a great deal out of that exercise,”
The ECBs approach to provide amnesty to informers has obviously paid dividends and Tim May feels that authorities round the world would do well to take heed of such an approach as an effective tool to expose corruption.

“I think it is a worthwhile exercise for other countries to do. Just because the England players didn’t have much to report doesn’t mean that Australian, New Zealand, Pakistan, Indian, Sri Lankan players haven’t got much to provide either. I think it’s important that if we really want to attack these issues that we know what is going on. I think there are players out there that are holding a great deal of information from the past or even the current that would assist the people who are put in charge of reducing, minimising or eradicating corruption from our game. I think there is some information out there and we should make it as easy as possible for players to come forward with it.”