Fixing case is ‘warning’ for small teams, says Hong Kong boss

Published January 12, 2016
This file photo taken on July 25, 2015 shows Irfan Ahmed bowling during the ICC World T20 Qualifer between Scotland and Hong Kong at the Malahide Cricket Club, north of Dublin. — AFP
This file photo taken on July 25, 2015 shows Irfan Ahmed bowling during the ICC World T20 Qualifer between Scotland and Hong Kong at the Malahide Cricket Club, north of Dublin. — AFP

HONG KONG: An alleged fixing approach to Hong Kong's Irfan Ahmed is a “warning” for other emerging teams, the territory's cricket chief said Tuesday.

Tim Cutler, chief executive of the Hong Kong Cricket Association, said that associate, or non-Test playing, members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) were particularly vulnerable to match-fixers.

He was speaking after all-rounder Ahmed, 26, a former Hong Kong player of the year, was charged and provisionally suspended by the ICC for failing to report an alleged fixing offer.

Ahmed, who was slated for Hong Kong's squad for the World T20 championship in India in March, faces a ban of between two and five years if found guilty.

Cutler said associate cricket nations, which cannot pay their players as well as Test sides, were particularly susceptible to bribery and the “underbelly of the dark chapter of cricket”.

“Any player in associate cricket is [vulnerable] only because of the disparity between, from the money point of view, what can be offered by an unscrupulous agent of a bookie or beyond versus what the top-tier players are earning,” he said.

Cutler added: “Three years ago these guys were genuine amateurs, only ever paid allowances and reimbursed travel costs to go and compete for Hong Kong.

“It's a warning to all up-and-coming cricketers and emerging cricket nations ... it's really a threat to the soul of our sport.”

The charge under the ICC's anti-corruption code is the latest to arise from wide-reaching investigations into illegal bookmaking networks by the world body's anti-corruption unit.

According to Australia's Fairfax Media, Ahmed was approached by former Pakistani cricketer Nasem Gulzar, one of the alleged match-fixers accused of paying former New Zealand batsman Lou Vincent to deliberately underperform in county matches in England.

Kevin Egan, Ahmed's Hong Kong-based barrister, downplayed the charge against the cricketer, who has featured in six ODIs and eight T20 internationals.

“[Gulzar] was like a father figure to him and [Ahmed] was approached with a corrupt offer which he rejected. But the only criminality alleged against him by the ICC was simply having failed to report that approach,” Egan was quoted as saying.

“At the moment we're in negotiations with the ICC and those negotiations have not yet concluded. I expect that within the next couple of weeks we will have come to a conclusion.”

Opinion

Editorial

Reserved seats
Updated 15 May, 2024

Reserved seats

The ECP's decisions and actions clearly need to be reviewed in light of the country’s laws.
Secretive state
15 May, 2024

Secretive state

THERE is a fresh push by the state to stamp out all criticism by using the alibi of protecting national interests....
Plague of rape
15 May, 2024

Plague of rape

FLAWED narratives about women — from being weak and vulnerable to provocative and culpable — have led to...
Privatisation divide
Updated 14 May, 2024

Privatisation divide

How this disagreement within the government will sit with the IMF is anybody’s guess.
AJK protests
14 May, 2024

AJK protests

SINCE last week, Azad Jammu & Kashmir has been roiled by protests, fuelled principally by a disconnect between...
Guns and guards
14 May, 2024

Guns and guards

THERE are some flawed aspects to our society that we must start to fix at the grassroots level. One of these is the...