The groundsman, Tharanga Indika, who was in-charge of the Galle cricket ground was allegedly found guilty for helping the bookmakers to engage in match-fixing after allowing them to doctor the pitch conditions[/caption]
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has concluded its investigation into the controversial 2018 television documentary on Al Jazeera named “Cricket’s Match Fixers” and announced its conclusion yesterday (17) saying “No charges will be bought (sic) under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code against any of the five Participants to the Code who featured in the programme due to insufficient credible and reliable evidence.”
The said Al Jazeera documentary was aired on 27 May 2018 and featured at least a couple of Sri Lankans in alleged corruption related to match and pitch fixing. The Sri Lankans will not face any investigation as it is clearly indicated by yesterday’s ICC official statement.
“Implausible as a fix”
“The comprehensive investigation focused on three main areas: the claims made by the programme, the suspects who were part of it, and how the programme gathered evidence,” explained the ICC in its statement, undersigned by its General Manager – Marketing and Communications Claire Furlong.
“The programme alleged that two matches were fixed: India vs. England in Chennai in 2016 and India vs. Australia in Ranchi in 2017. To assess whether the passages of play highlighted in the programme were unusual in any way, the ICC engaged four independent betting and cricketing specialists to analyse the claims.
“All four concluded that the passages of play identified in the programme as being allegedly fixed were entirely predictable, and therefore implausible as a fix,” the ICC statement further added.
Alex Marshall views
“All five Participants to the Code who featured in the programme have been interviewed by the ICC Integrity Unit and there is insufficient evidence based on the normal thresholds applied through the Code to lay any charges,” it also stressed.
Alex Marshall, ICC General Manager – Integrity has said: “We welcome the reporting of alleged corrupt activity within cricket as there is no place for such conduct in our sport, but we also need to be satisfied there is sufficient evidence to sustain charges against Participants. In the case of the claims aired in this programme, there are fundamental weaknesses in each of the areas we have investigated that make the claims unlikely and lacking in credibility, a viewpoint that has been corroborated by four independent experts.
ICC ready to re-examine
“On the basis of the programme, the Participants to the Code who were filmed appear to have behaved in a questionable manner, however, we have been unable to assess the full context of the conversations that took place beyond what was seen on screen versus what the Participants claim actually happened. This combined with the absence of any other credible evidence means there are insufficient grounds to bring charges under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code
“Should any new substantial evidence come to light I will re-examine the case. But at present I am comfortable with the conclusion of the investigation and the thoroughness with which it was undertaken.”
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“Cricket’s Match Fixers”
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The said Al Jazeera documentary was aired on 27 May 2018 and featured at least a couple of Sri Lankans in alleged corruption related to match and pitch fixing[/caption]
The said Al Jazeera documentary claimed that groundsmen at certain matches deliberately altered the nature of the pitch in order to produce results that favoured the home team. The news reports claimed that two of the four-pitch fixing offences occurred in Galle, with the groundsmen at Chennai being accused of pitch-fixing charges after hosting the final Test match of the series between India and England in 2016.
* On 29 May 2018, the International Cricket Council (ICC) criticised Al Jazeera for failing to share conclusive evidence of pitch-fixing before broadcasting the documentary regarding the match-fixing allegations.
* Critics also speculated whether the Al Jazeera news network deliberately revealed false allegations, citing that Al Jazeera’s findings may have been edited and modified before releasing its documentary film.
* However, on 26 May 2018, a shocking development revealed that the curator of Galle International Stadium, Tharanga Indika, had indeed been involved in the operation, with the discovery of camera footage linking him to the scandal. Indika subsequently admitted to doctoring the pitch to manipulate match outcomes. The match-fixing issue remains under investigation by the ICC.
* The Al Jazeera news network has continuously refused to provide the pitch-fixing related evidence to the ICC stating that the lives of journalists are at risk.
* In July 2018, Australian cricketer Glenn Maxwell was indirectly accused by Al Jazeera’s documentary as a chief suspect in the possible match-fixing allegations during the third Test match held between India and Australia which happened at Ranchi, a match where Maxwell recorded his maiden Test century.
* However, Maxwell denied all of the allegations levelled against him and replied that he didn’t have any need to do such a thing to spoil the moment of cricket. (Wikipedia)
The Sri Lankan involvement
* Postponement of 2018 Lanka Premier League
The scheduled inaugural edition of the Lankan Premier League which was supposed to be held in August 2018 was indefinitely postponed as a result of the change in country’s cricket administration. This was also assumed to have been postponed due to Al Jazeera’s claims on match fixing probe in Sri Lanka.
* Galle pitch fixing
The groundsman, Tharanga Indika, who is in-charge of the cricket ground was found guilty for helping the bookmakers to engage in match-fixing after allowing them to doctor the pitch conditions. The allegations were revealed by the Al Jazeera news network which filmed both the groundsman and the other match fixers on their targets of match-fixing.
Robin Morris was intended to have influenced in fixing allegations relating to Sri Lankan home matches for attempting pitch tampering by the ICC during Sri Lanka’s second Test match against Australia in Galle and Sri Lanka’s first Test against India in Galle.
Morris was reported to have given bribes to groundsman, Tharanga Indika, who works as the groundsman at the Galle International Stadium to monitor the pitch conditions in those two home matches played by Sri Lanka against Australia in 2016 and India in 2017, and was noticed to have earned from betting after analyzing the Galle pitch conditions.
However, he denied all of the allegations against him, as revealed by Al Jazeera.
He later revealed that he didn’t place money for betting after analysing the Galle pitch conditions in 2016 and 2017.
On 30 May 2018, the SLC said that a new pitch was formed replacing the pitch referred by Al Jazeera in its documentary film.
* Sri Lanka vs. Australia 2016
Robin Morris explained that the Galle pitch was prepared in favour of the bowlers of the Sri Lankan cricket team during the second Test against Australia in 2016 where Sri Lanka managed to win the match by a massive margin of 229 runs.
Australia lost all 20 wickets within three days and batting 501 balls.
The groundsman said that the Galle wicket for the Australian Test was prepared deliberately for the bowlers by preparing the pitch poorly without using a roller.
He also ensured the bookmakers that the five-day Test match would finish within three days rather than end in a draw. After knowing about the pitch conditions, the match-fixers made money by betting that the match would not end in a draw.
The Australian cricket team also raised concerns over the pitch conditions at the time of the test match as they felt that the pitch didn't help the batters. Australian players including Steve Smith, David Warner, and Nathan Lyon complained to the match officials about the poor pitch conditions after a thrashing loss to Sri Lanka.
* Sri Lanka vs. India 2017
The Galle pitch for the Indian Test was said to be prepared as batsmen friendly pitch where India piled up big first innings score of over 600 in the first innings, and also piled up 240 runs for the loss of only three wickets to demolish Sri Lanka and win the match.
It was evident that Sri Lanka was restricted under 300 runs in both the innings and lost the match by 304 runs.
* Sri Lanka vs. England 2018
Robin Morris, along with Dubai based business person Gaurav Rajkumar, Galle groundsman Tharanga Indika, and Sri Lankan first-class cricketer Tharindu Mendis have also been investigated by the ICC for attempting another pitch tampering at Galle in Sri Lanka’s first test match against England as part of the England’s series against Sri Lanka in November 2018.
Concerns were raised by the English Cricket Board whether to play the series against Sri Lanka over the planned pitch tampering at the Galle Cricket Stadium for the first Test match or not. (Wikipedia)