Bookmakers try to bribe three international captains to fix cricket matches

Three current captains of Test-playing nations have received offers to fix international matches in the past eight weeks.

Standard Sport understands all three approaches, believed to be from intermediaries linked to illegal betting syndicates on the Indian sub-continent, were reported to the International Cricket Council’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) within an hour.

While this could be seen as a worrying development in the fight against corruption in cricket, it should also be viewed as a sign that attempts to educate players about the dangers of fixing are working.

All three reported incidents are now being aggressively pursued by the ACU, which is led by Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the former Northern Ireland police chief, as part of seven active investigations into suspected corruption in the international game.

It is understood two of the captains are Zimbabwe’s Graeme Cremer and Sarfraz Ahmed, of Pakistan.

One of the ACU’s other live investigations is looking into allegations of inducements offered to the Sri Lankan team, led by Dinesh Chandimal. Neither Chandimal or any of his team-mates, who requested the inquiry, are suspected of any wrongdoing.

Cremer was approached before his side’s two-Test series against West Indies in Bulawayo in October. Zimbabwe’s players were informed before the First Test on October 21 that a team member had been made an offer to engage in corrupt activities. Zimbabwe Cricket is assisting the ICC with their inquiries.