The Int'l Cricket Council said on Monday that its "anti-corruption unit was probing the Hong Kong team but ruled out any match-fixing angle to its investigation," according to Amlan Chakraborty of REUTERS. A day after ICC Anti-Corruption Unit Head Ronnie Flanagan "revealed the case in Mumbai," ICC CEO Dave Richardson provided more details. Richardson said, "In recent times you would have read in the media that a particular player was suspended from his country and the investigations relate to the same team." He added, "We should not speculate that it involves or there's any match-fixing or anything going on with particular players or a particular team. Often we get our intelligence from players reporting various approaches that corrupt people make to them." Richardson also said that the ICC has done "stellar work" to shield players from full member nations against such approaches but "corrupt" individuals were finding new targets. Richardson: "We are now finding that the corruptors are now focused on associate members, women's teams etc. etc. So we got to make sure the players from all the teams are very well educated, understand their responsibilities and would not get involved" (REUTERS, 3/7). In London, Ali Martin reported while Richardson went on to "stress his belief" that the World Twenty20 would be a "clean tournament," with the ACU working closely with law enforcement agencies in India, he "conceded would-be match-fixers are now targeting teams away from the top tier of the men's game." Richardson: "Unfortunately, this is the world we are living. There are corrupt people all over the world, trying their best to get hold of players" (GUARDIAN, 3/7).
