April 10, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 3, 1429

KARACHI, April 9: The International Cricket Council (ICC) does not reward or protect a player who wants to blow a whistle on match-fixing and it’s wrong to target Shoaib Akhtar for his late disclosing of offers to under-perform, said former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif.

Rashid said that neither the ICC nor its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit had not done enough to curb the menace of match-fixing.

“To me, the ACSU is basically a body, which is not initiative-based and their employees are simply leading a good life while failing to wipe out this menace from cricket,” Rashid said.

The former stumper also sided with Shoaib who was quizzed by the ACSU officials after recently claiming that he had been approached in the past by bookies to under-perform.

“They [ICC] are ready to take action against a player who does not disclose information but does the ICC or ACSU offer proper protection, rewards and show respect to players who come forward and reveal the truth?” Rashid asked.

“They are talking about Shoaib Akhtar for not disclosing the offers to him. But why should any player come forward and reveal details about offers from bookies?” he asked.

Rashid said match-fixing still remained in the game, though in different forms. “I have told them about this and also written about fancy fixing, and other methods being used to corrupt players,” he said.

He was of the view that players are more likely to fall prey to corruption in private leagues as the national honour was not at stake there.

Citing an example from his home country, he said some years ago, a domestic Pakistani player, who took part in a Twenty20 championship in England had complained about offers being made to him to fix the result of a match. “But I don’t know if any serious investigations were done towards it,” he said.—Agencies