Ashes under a cloud after Sun ‘exposes’ dodgy bookies

No one has been caught out, but an aura of suspicion nonetheless hung over the WACA as the Perth Test got under way.

Despite no evidence of wrongdoing in this case, cricket easily comes under suspicion because of past transgressions.

Cricket Australia boss James ­Sutherland warmed up for the third Ashes Test by joining, with bated breath, a conference call with the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption officer in an attempt to discover whether the historic series against England had become more about the earn than the urn.

Sutherland and his counterpart from the England and Wales Cricket Board, Tom Harrison, and the chief executive of the International Cricket Council, David Richardson, a former South Africa teammate of the disgraced Hansie Cronje, were briefed by the head of anti-corruption unit, Alex Marshall, about an undercover operation by British tabloid The Sun that claimed aspects of yesterday’s Test in Perth were to be rigged.

The Sun reports the ‘plot’ on its front page yesterday.

Sutherland was bullish in his response to the mud being slung, saying: “What we heard from Alex Marshall is that there’s no evidence, substance or justification based on the dossier of information the ICC’s received from the news outlet, based on ICC intelligence in previous investigations. There’s no substance to these allegations or justification to suspect that this Test match or indeed the Ashes series as a whole is suspect to corrupt activities.

“(Marshall) also went on to say that there’s no evidence, substance or justification to suggest that any player from either side, or match official from the ICC or Cricket Australia or the ECB, are in any way under suspicion or been contacted by alleged fixers.”

And yet. You can scrub your fingers to the bone in the attempt to remove the stain of match-fixing from sport, but the public mood has swung towards fearing the worst about athletes rather than assuming the best. The allegations of spot-fixing completely changed the complexion of yesterday’s Test. Whether or not the weather was fine, whether there was cumulonimbus or not, there was a cloud.

This Ashes series had previously been remarkable for the ineptitude of the English team. Now every nuance, from unexpected decisions at the toss of the coin to irregular dismissals, was enough to make you wonder whether cricket is still what we want it to be.

Perception is everything in sport. The perception that two willing combatants are engaged in a sincere athletic contest is paramount. Otherwise, there goes the neighbourhood.

The accusations about the Ashes series and the upcoming Twenty20 Big Bash League, plus the alleged involvement of Australian players, past or present, and a background figure called the Silent Man, put a shadow across Perth’s WACA Ground that was impossible to ignore.

The investigation by The Sun newspaper (owned by News Corp, as is The Australian) claims to have uncovered plans to rig aspects of the Perth Test. The report appears similar to the sting by The News of the World in 2010 that led to jail terms for Pakistan players Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir. Spot-betting was again the dark heart of the matter.

The bookies recorded by The Sun, Sobers Joban, left, and Priyank Saxena.

Spot-betting focuses on seemingly minor aspects of a match, rather than the result, being manipulated. Two Indian bookmakers, identified as Sobers Joban and Priyank Saxena, offered in conversations recorded by The Sun to sell for $245,000 the information about rigged moments in play, such as how many runs would come from a certain over.

Joban, referred to as Mr Big, was quoted as saying: “Before (the) match, I will tell you this over, this runs and then you have to put all the bets on that over.” Asked if it was a good source he replied: “Absolutely correct information.”

It was suggested the corrupt players would signal the fix was about to happen with a motion or gesture on the field, such as changing their batting gloves. Spotters in the crowd would then notify the bookmakers, who would make bets worth millions of dollars on the underground Indian market.

Bets on the minutiae of matches are also available through Australian betting agencies, with one of them offering odds this week on how fast the England bowlers would bowl, either faster or slower than 145km/h. While the multiple bets available on cricket have nothing to do with the course of the match, the money to be made from them is substantial.

The ICC has launched an official investigation into The Sun’s claims. A Cricket Australia statement offers a more concerned tone than Sutherland. “The allegations raised by media outlets are of serious concern,” it says.

“Cricket Australia takes a zero-tolerance approach against anybody trying to bring the game into disrepute. Cricket Australia will co-operate fully with any ICC anti-corruption unit investigation. Australian cricket has a longstanding, proactive approach to sports integrity management and Cricket Australia has a dedicated anti-corruption and security unit … to prevent corruption within Australian domestic competitions, including the BBL.

“In addition to this, all players participating in CA-sanctioned competitions, including the BBL, are required to complete an anti-corruption education session before they can compete. CA works closely with the ICC ACU on all international fixtures played in Australia. Players are able to report any suspicions they have on a confidential basis, and in the past there has been a strong Australian player culture to do so.”

But still. While it would be unimaginable to think an Australian would forsake the 100-year tradition of Ashes cricket by acting unscrupulously and illegally, to an extent the damage had been done before the players took the field in Perth. Mud had been flung. We all know it sticks.

It was the main talking point. It dominated news cycles after the bookmakers claimed the Silent Man used current and former international stars as “puppets” who were involved in the racket.

The ICC says the revelations are of “grave concern”, adding: “We take all allegations of corruption seriously and welcome The Sun’s offer to share this information.” Cricket corruption expert Ed Hawkins adds: “This is potentially disastrous for the game. The Ashes is one of the pillars of cricket. It’s absolutely bombshell stuff that we are talking about the Ashes in this context. People didn’t think series as big as that would be affected by bookies.”

The bookmaker Joban claims in The Sun recording they could get players to follow “scripts” such as how many runs would be scored in a session. Or an innings. Or when a wicket would fall. Or what a team would do if it won the toss. “I will give you work in Ashes Test,” he says. “Session runs. Maybe day one, two, three. We have two-session work, one session costs 60 lakh rupees ($121,208), two sessions 120 lakh rupees. If you are interested Priyank will talk to the Silent Man. If you want to go with him, all right, but you will not sit in meeting. I don’t know what he give, script or session. Right now if I tell you he want one crore ($203,000), he might want five crores ($1,000,000).” Asked if the offer was confirmed, Saxena replies: “One thousand per cent.”

In another recorded call, Saxena claims the Silent Man had confirmed a fix was due in the middle of the Ashes, which would point to this week’s Test in Perth.

According to the ICC’s Marshall, “We have now received all materials relating to The Sun investigation. We take the allegations extremely seriously and they will be investigated by the ICC anti-corruption unit working with anti-corruption colleagues from member countries.

“From my initial assessment of the material, there is no evidence, either from The Sun or via our own intelligence, to suggest the current Test match has been corrupted. At this stage of the investigation, there is no indication that any players in this Test have been in contact with the alleged fixers.

“The allegations are wide-ranging and relate to various forms of cricket in several countries, including T20 tournaments. We will look closely at all the information as part of our investigation.”

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland says there is thus far no cause for suspicion. Picture: AAP.

What’s impossible for cricketing people to understand is how certain factors mentioned in the dossier could be manipulated. An attempt to score X amount of runs in an over, for instance, would obviously come down to a batsman needing a certain of amount of runs from a particular delivery.

Say he needed one run from the next ball. He might want to push a quick single towards cover. But what if he missed the ball and was dismissed? What if he nicked the ball through slips for a boundary? What if the bowler delivered a ball so good that it was impossible to score from? If a batsman wanted to be dismissed, what if the bowling was so bad he could not be? What if an umpire gave him not out?

It would seem impossible for batsmen to pull off some of these spot-fixing rorts unless there was a bowler in on it as well, and/or an umpire and/or a fielder.

The BBL starts next week. The bookmakers promised specific outcomes such as a batting total of 152 runs, for example, which would seem impossible to guarantee unless a whole team was involved, and even then it would take more than a little luck to not finish on 151 or 153. Test cricket, even more so.

“The more I see this, the more I just think it’s a stitch-up,” ex-Australia Test player and high-profile coach Geoff Lawson tells Fox Sports News, calling The Sun’s claims “a totally preposterous piece of work”.

“The numbers they talk are inconsistent,” he says. “You cannot fix Test cricket sessions. We’re all waiting for more information but that looked like a bunch of rubbish to me. All we can do is speculate.

“Test cricket has never really been put in the firing line. The limited-overs stuff and 20-over stuff, yes. There are leagues all over the world, and they’re all susceptible to this sort of stuff. But speaking specifically about Test cricket, you would have to have multiple people on each side being involved in it. But that’s not what they’re talking about. You just cannot do it in that form of the game — certainly one person cannot do it.”

In 2009, Australian players Shane Watson, Brad Haddin, Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson were approached by an Indian bookmaker during a tour of England, and reported the incidents to team management. In the 1994-95 season, an Indian known as “John the Bookmaker” paid money to Australia’s Warne and Mark Waugh in exchange for pitch and weather information. The then Australian Cricket Board tried to cover up the incident by fining them and telling the ICC. It was revealed by the media in 1998. The players were vehemently criticised, as was the ACB for the cover-up; prime minister John Howard said he had “an intense feeling of disappointment”.

Sutherland took his seat at the Test after telling reporters where he stood. “We have absolute confidence in our players and our team officials and others involved in the game to say there is nothing to suggest based on what we’ve heard from Alex Marshall and other ­understandings we have or other intelligence we have, to have any suspicions about our players.

“We have full confidence in them. The ICC anti-corruption head Alex Marshall will with his team continue to investigate this matter. Obviously if there’s anything credible it will be a deep and forensic investigation. He will make his own comments in time … We will continue to work with him and the ICC as appropriate with this, but in the meantime we look forward to a Test match and the understanding that we have full confidence in our players and everyone involved in this Test match and the Ashes series.”