NAIROBI, 7 March 2004 — The International Cricket Council (ICC) has rejected a call from Pakistan for a code of conduct to prevent former cricketers from making unsubstantiated match-fixing claims.
“We are asking people making such allegations to follow the laid down process and provide as much evidence as possible but the ICC won’t set up a code of conduct,” ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed told reporters in Nairobi yesterday.
Speed, accompanying ICC President Ehsan Mani on a tour of Kenya, said players and other commentators with evidence could use a 24-hour ICC hotline to provide evidence.
He said making such allegations in public did not help the sport, adding: “Put your allegations up or stop making them.”
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Monday it would send a letter to the ICC with its request. It came after former captain Rashid Latif suggested Pakistan could have thrown their fourth one-dayer against India last month.
The PCB is considering taking disciplinary action against Latif.
“I am aware that Latif made some public comments. He has written to us and he has been interviewed (by the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit) three times,” said Speed.
“But what we are telling players and other media commentators making allegations that are not substantiated is to put them up through the laid down process so that they are dealt with expeditiously.” Cricket was rocked by a huge match-fixing scandal in 2000, when South Africa captain Hansie Cronje admitted accepting money from bookmakers trying to influence matches. He was banned for life and died in a plane crash in 2002.
