ICC?s ACU probing elite panel umpires: Report

[DesiChap]

ICC?s ACU probing elite panel umpires: Report Kingston, April 01: Even as the Bob Woolmer murder mystery remained murky after two weeks, the ICC is probing three of its elite panel umpires as a part of its inquiry into match-fixing, a newspaper report claimed. "The recent death of pakistan coach Bob Woolmer here has triggered suggestions of match-fixing. In fact, the ICC has sent Jeff Rees from their Anti-Corruption Unit to do investigations of their own, but they stayed clear of suggesting that Woolmer knew about match-fixing," `The Sunday Gleaner` reported today. "Not only have players been implicated in match-fixing scandals but a well-placed source says at least three umpires on the ICC elite panels are being investigated by Lord Condon`s ICC Anti-Corruption Unit," the report claimed. "The intelligence source says these investigations were done because it was found that some umpires have offshore banking accounts thought to be set up by match-fixers," it said. The ICC says that as a matter of policy they do not comment on whether an investigation is being or has been done. "According to the intelligence expert, in matches where umpires are crooked, at least one captain is aware of the match-fixing scheme, so he normally brings his best bowler from the end where the umpire believed to be crooked is standing," it claimed. The intelligence agent suggests that a series of matches within the last three years have prompted the Lord Condon`s team to investigate, and Woolmer was aware of these investigations, the report claimed. Against this backdrop, the informed intelligence source suggests Woolmer`s death had two reasons: firstly, because Pakistan dropped out of the World Cup causing persons to lose plenty of money; and secondly, because there was a feeling that he was going to talk what he knew about match-fixing, the report said. Gambling in sport is a multibillion-dollar industry. In cricket, the dark side to gambling is often not as straight forward as the flip of a coin. Bookmakers often seek to influence the game by speaking to and paying players and even officials, the newspaper quoted an intelligence source. "It is done through a big betting chain run out of Karachi in Pakistan," the expert said. "Betting on rigged test matches and rigged one day international matches is a big source of funds." They say that while the tendency to bribe people to fix an entire game has disappeared because of close monitoring by the ICC , `bookies` are now involved in what is now called micro-fixing. People bet on even the most remote things such as who will bowl the 15th over. Media and communications manager for the International Cricket Council (ICC), Brian Murgatroyd told the paper that "one of the things the ICC is trying to tackle is the potential for micro-fixing".

[Chandan]

Re: ICC?s ACU probing elite panel umpires: Report This has been the most shocking news during this WC after Woolmers death. Who can those umpires be? I think Rauf has had some really poor decisions. Anyone remembers who were the umpires in that Pak-Ireland match?

[Guest BossBhai]

Re: ICC?s ACU probing elite panel umpires: Report -- Removed on request of the user --

[Chandan]

Re: ICC?s ACU probing elite panel umpires: Report There were too many howlers even in Ind-SL match! But somehow I'm not able to accept that Indian players could've had any intention to fix any of the WC matches. So I'm not willing to accept this allegation on at least the Indian team!

[Guest BossBhai]

Re: ICC?s ACU probing elite panel umpires: Report -- Removed on request of the user --