CORRUPTION in cricket will not be eradicated until players put their faith in the body aimed at rooting out the culprits, according to Mike Brearley, the chairman of the MCC World Cricket committee. Former England captain Brearley said that the players must play their part in ridding the sport of controversies that have rocked its standing in recent months, and believes that will start when they put their full confidence in the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) set up by the International Cricket Council.
He said: “Cricket will never rid itself of corruption until players own the problem, until everyone acts in the right manner if approached, and until they have total confidence in the procedures of the ACSU, including its absolute confidentiality with regard to players who report approaches or suspicions.”
He added: “My belief is that 99% of players hate the threat corruption poses to cricket, and we need to utilise their affection for the game to force out the other 1% and to find ways to stop the few who might be tempted from being lured in.”
The MCC are working closely with the ICC and the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) in an attempt to tackle corruption cases such as the spot-fixing scandal surrounding Pakistan internationals Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, and Brearley believes the different organisations will assist each other well.
“Tim (May, FICA chief executive) and Sir Ronnie (Flanagan, chairman of the ACSU) are both straightforward people who want to fight the problem and who are able to empathise with each other’s points of view even when different from their own,” he said.
“One topic that came up was Tim’s proposal that players who are investigated but then not charged have their reputations publicly cleared; Sir Ronnie said he saw real merit in this suggestion and undertook to immediately review ACSU policy in this area.”
The subject is likely to be high on the agenda at the next MCC World Cricket committee meeting which is on August 13-14 at Lord’s.