ICC denies match-fixing allegations shown in Al Jazeera documentary

The International Cricket Council have concluded the investigation into a documentary program 'Cricket's Match Fixers' broadcast by Al Jazeera in 2018, it said in a release. The ICC have declared that no charges will be made under Anti-Corruption Code against the five participants due to insufficient credible and reliable evidence.

It was alleged in the programme that two matches, India and England in Chennai in 2016 and India vs Australia in Ranchi in 2017, were fixed.

The comprehensive investigation made by ICC focused on three main areas: the claims made by the programme, the suspects who were part of it and how the programme gathered evidence. To assess whether the passages of play highlighted in the programme were unusual in any way, the ICC engaged four independent betting and cricketing specialists to analyse the claims. All four concluded that the passages of play identified in the programme as being allegedly fixed were entirely predictable, and therefore implausible as a fix.

All five Participants to the Code who featured in the programme have been interviewed by the ICC Integrity Unit and there is insufficient evidence based on the normal thresholds applied through the Code to lay any charges.

"We welcome the reporting of alleged corrupt activity within cricket as there is no place for such conduct in our sport, but we also need to be satisfied there is sufficient evidence to sustain charges against Participants. In the case of the claims aired in this programme, there are fundamental weaknesses in each of the areas we have investigated that make the claims unlikely and lacking in credibility, a viewpoint that has been corroborated by four independent experts," Alex Marshall, ICC General Manager said.

"On the basis of the programme, the Participants to the Code who were filmed appear to have behaved in a questionable manner, however, we have been unable to assess the full context of the conversations that took place beyond what was seen on screen versus what the Participants claim actually happened. This combined with the absence of any other credible evidence means there are insufficient grounds to bring charges under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code

"Should any new substantial evidence come to light I will re-examine the case. But at present I am comfortable with the conclusion of the investigation and the thoroughness with which it was undertaken."