The International Cricket Council said on Thursday (February 1) that they didn’t have the power to take action against the Ajman Twenty20 All-Stars even if they had indulged in corrupt practices, but would allow investigations to continue.
The league, which is not sanctioned by either the local Ajman Cricket Council (ACC), Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) or the ICC, featured a match where more than one batsman appeared to be throwing their wicket away by running themselves out or getting stumped without attempting to return to the crease.
It attracted the attention of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), and the ACC suspended all matches at the Ajman Oval, where the tournament was being held.
Alex Marshall, the ICC’s ACU general manager, said: “The event was not approved or in any way sanctioned by the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) and therefore neither the ECB nor the ICC has authority to take action under cricket’s anti-corruption rules against anybody who may have engaged in any corrupt practice.
“However, after speaking to a number of those involved we consider there to be strong evidence to indicate this was a corrupt event and damaging to the wider reputation of cricket and as such will continue the investigation. Our ongoing enquiries will now focus on identifying the organisers of the tournament to prevent similar incidents occurring elsewhere and to disrupt corrupt practices wherever we can.
“In addition, all member boards whose players have participated in this event will be asked to consider whether by doing so, those players are in breach of any other applicable rules, including those that prohibit participation in unsanctioned cricket, and if so for disciplinary action to be taken against them.”
Coincidentally, Salman Butt, the disgraced former Pakistan skipper, was part of the league. Butt, who was banned from cricket for five years and served time in prison following the Lord’s spot-fixing scandal of 2010, played two matches before realising it wasn’t a professionally-run event.
“I went there as I was not picked for (my domestic team) Lahore and I was doing nothing,” Butt was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India. “But when I reached there I realised it was just an amateur-level event which had no match referee, ICC anti-corruption representative or even scorers.
“Since the spot-fixing scandal, I try to stay away as far as possible from any related controversies. I am happy the ICC is investigating the event because there were lot of flaws in it. But I played just two games and then went away to Dubai,” he said.
Though Butt did not feature in the viral video, it’s likely that he will be pulled up for participating in an unsanctioned league.