Cricket is now clean declares ICC chief

JOHANNESBURG, March 22, AAP - International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman Malcolm Gray claimed the game was corruption-free on the eve of a World Cup final between Australia and India that attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal betting.

And a two-day ICC meeting that finished today brought forward the date of consideration for Kenya's Test application to 2005.

Three years ago, Gray said cricket was "on its knees" after the corruption scandal was exposed involving the late South Africa captain Hansie Cronje, who admitted taking money from bookmakers. Cronje and two other international captains, Salim Malik of Pakistan and Mohammad Azharuddin from India, were banned from the game for life.

"In a relatively short time we can now say the game is corruption free," said Gray.

His claim came after the ICC's anti-corruption unit (ACU) chief Paul Condon reported the six week-tournament had been clean, even though enormous amounts of many were wagered on games on the sub-continent, especially the India-Pakistan game on March 1 and tomorrow's final.

Betting in India and Pakistan is illegal.

Gray also said the ICC had shut the book on corrution allegations involving West Indies' batsman Brian Lara, former Pakistan all rounder Asif Iqbal and the tournament regarded as the biggest haven for bookmakers, the annual one-day event in Sharjah.

Gray said the ICC's executive board decided to take no further action after considering reports on each of those matters.

"What the board did decide was to accept the reports and virtually draw a line under any further investigations," he said.

"In most of those cases we cannot take matters any further, or if we did it would cost us enormous amounts of money and we would probably not get very much further. Also it's because we believe now we should look forward rather than look back."

Lara was one of nine non-Indian test players mentioned in a submission to Indian police by Indian bookmaker MK Gupta, who claimed to have offered them money for information.

Lara has always denied the allegations.

Asif had been involved in organising the Sharjah tournament.

The ICC also considered Kenya's growing case for elevation to Test status and decided the surprise World Cup semi-finalist deserved to have its case hastened by a year.

According to the original agreement between the Kenya Cricket Association and the ICC, Kenya would receive $US500,000 ($A847,460) per year from the ICC development fund if they deferred their official application for Test sanctioning until June, 2006.

However, the ICC agreed to bring it forward by a year to June, 2005.

"This does not mean that Test status will be conferred on Kenya in 2005, only that the application will be considered then," said Speed.

Speed admitted the ICC's hesitation about rushing Kenya into the big time stemmed from the failure of Bangladesh to become remotely competitive since its introduction in 1999.

Bangladesh has failed to win a Test or single one-day international in that time except for an upset over Pakistan at the '99 World Cup - a result that attracted the attention of the ACU.

Gray and Speed also said the ICC was withholding millions of dollars of World Cup funding from India, England and New Zealand.

The matter would now be contested in court with $US9 million, $US3.5 million and US$2.5 million being held back from India, England and New Zealand respectively.

England and New Zealand have been penalised for boycotting matches in Zimbabwe and Kenya. India violated the original contract with the ICC with regard to players personal endorsements in conflict with the ICCs global and/or official sponsors.

Speed said if the ICC won the court case and India or the other countries did not accept the verdict, they could face suspension from international cricket.

A detailed paper that outlines all the financial ramifications of the World Cup has been prepared and the other member boards have seen it and approved of the same, said Gray.

Speed added that there have been preliminary indications from all sponsors, including Pepsi, LG and Hero Honda, that the contracts have been violated and it will take months of arbitration to sort out these matters."