Strauss questions anti-corruption effort

England captain Andrew Strauss has queried the "resolve" of cricket chiefs to tackle corruption, saying the sport's own body dedicated to catching cheats was "woefully under-resourced".

England captain Andrew Strauss has queried the "resolve" of cricket chiefs to tackle corruption, saying the sport's own body dedicated to catching cheats was "woefully under-resourced". © AFP

Strauss was leading England in a Test at Lord's last year when three Pakistan cricketers -- then captain Salman Butt and seamers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir -- were all accused by Britain's News of the World of conspiring to deliberately bowl no-balls as part of a 'spot-fixing' betting scam. The trio, who all deny wrongdoing, were banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for a minimum of five years each -- verdicts they are appealing against at the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
And the players, together with their agent Mazher Majeed, now face criminal corruption charges in England, with a trial set to start in October.
At the time of the original revelations, the work of the ICC anti-corruption unit, headed by former Northern Ireland police chief Ronnie Flanagan, was criticised widely, with many observers asking if it was fit for purpose.
"The only input I've had is with the anti-corruption people who came round during the World Cup," Strauss told Tuesday's London Evening Standard.
"It seems to me that they are woefully under-resourced. I just don't think they've got the resources to do it properly."
Betting on cricket in the sub-continent, the financial and administrative hub of the global game, is illegal but nonetheless widespread.
"Clearly most of the betting seems to go on in the sub-continent but I wouldn't say it was just sub-continental players that are involved," Strauss added. "My gut feeling is there is more to it than we know about."
"I haven't seen any resolve to deal with the issue. It is hard for me to comment because I don't know what's going on behind closed doors."
Strauss did though confirm England nearly pulled out of last year's one-day international against Pakistan at Lord's, after Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt alleged some of the England side had been "paid enormous amounts of money" to lose the third one-dayer at The Oval.
"I was quite emotional myself about it," said Strauss of an allegation Butt eventually withdrew.
"My original view was our integrity had been brought into question. We got quite close to not playing the one-dayer at Lord's.
"But over the course of the evening it became a lot clearer to me that actually the right thing to do was to play. We didn't feel overjoyed to be playing the game or that series but we got through it.
"I am still hopeful that good will come out of it," added Strauss, due to captain England in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Cardiff on Thursday.
"But they certainly don't seem to be getting anywhere nearer to the bottom of the whole spot fixing/match-fixing saga."