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ICC warns 12 known fixers to stay away from World Cup

The ICC has warned 12 match-fixers to stay away from the World Cup - REUTERS
The ICC has warned 12 match-fixers to stay away from the World Cup - REUTERS

The International Cricket Council has warned around 12 known 'corruptors' not to travel to England for the Cricket World Cup. As first revealed by Telegraph Sport, Alex Marshall, the general manager of the ICC’s anti-corruption unit, has contacted known corruptors to tell them not to come to the tournament.

“I have communicated with them which includes letters to solicitors, phone calls and WhatsApp communications,” Marshall said at an anti-corruption briefing.

While the ICC lacks the power to prevent corruptors travelling to England for the tournament, it can take other steps to stop them affecting matches.

“If they are seen here, at the ground, they will be thrown out. We have shared their details with the law enforcement and the police here in the UK – if our guys see them anywhere around the World Cup, they will be asked to leave.

“It’s around a dozen people who have had the ‘disinvite’ to the Cricket World Cup 2019 and who we will keep away. If any more pop up, we will be speaking to them as well. They are people who live all over the world but the majority of the corruption we deal with has its origins in the sub-continent, unregulated betting markets.”

In the ICC’s pre-tournament anti-corruption briefings to each team, players have been shared the names and photographs of known corruptors.

Alex Marshall head of corruption at the ICC
Alex Marshall has issued the warnings

For the first time, each team in the Cricket World Cup will have a dedicated anti-corruption official who will be based with them for the entire competition, as also exclusively revealed in Telegraph Sport. Marshall said this was a significant step to protect the integrity of the sport.

“It's really important. It's something we've used at some of the T20 events around the world and being away from the ground, just allows anti-corruption managers to get to know the entire squad very well.

“The person who’s with Bangladesh has been on tour with Bangladesh in recent months, knows all the players and all the squad. The person with Afghanistan has been on tour with Afghanistan, knows all the management, knows all the players. We’ve developed a much closer relationship with all the players and the squads and having them with them throughout the whole of the World Cup just perpetuates that good relationship. The indicators that's working are the amount of reporting we're getting from players.”

Since Marshall took over his position at the end of 2017, there has been a notable uptick in players reporting approaches to anti-corruption officials. Each dressing room in the World Cup will have a sign containing the anti-corruption hotline, while the ICC has also created an integrity app to make it easier to report any concerns.

“Everybody in every squad at this World Cup will be very well aware of the nature of this threat - particularly from people they don't know, including the people we will show them and give them their names and people around the squad will be looking around that all the time.”

Marshall said that he was confident that the competition would be safe from corruption. “This World Cup will be very, very well protected by anti-corruption working with police, National Crime Agency and gambling organisations.”