The Outgoing International Cricket Council Anti-corruption Unit chief Alex Marshall has said that the corruption in t20 league still looms.
He said that elite cricket is “safe and clean” and warned cricket fans about potential corrupt activities in poorly managed T20 leagues around the world.
“I am confident that the cricket you watch is safe and clean,” said Marshall. “But I am also absolutely sure that corruptors are constantly looking for a route into the game, particularly in badly run lower-level franchise leagues. The threat to the game is corruptors won’t go away while there is always money to be made and they will look for weakness in the system to get in.”
Meanwhile, Marshall has decided to retire from the position after serving for seven years. Marshall, a former policeman in the United Kingdom, recently told ICC about his decision to retire as he wanted to spend more time with his family.
During his tenure, Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, Sri Lanka legend Sanath Jayasuriya, and Zimbabwe player Heath Streak were banned for the ICC anti-corruption code.
The 63-year-old retiring head said that he is happy to find that more and more players are reporting corrupt approaches with ICC ACU, ensuring the game is free from match-fixing.
“I am proud of the significant increase in trust from players who now report approaches to us frequently whereas there was a time when they lacked confidence in confidentiality and the action that will be taken,” Marshall said.
“They have now seen corruptors being disrupted, named, banned when they get involved in cricket. And the education we now do with players shows them who the corruptors are, what their methods are, so everyone is much better equipped and protected to keep corruption away from the game.”
Marshall took over from YP Singh as the fourth ICC ACU head in September 2017. One of his early breakthroughs came in Sri Lanka when the ACU found various corruption breaches going on in the cricketing system of the country.
