Cremer match fixing saga deepens
By Austin Karonga
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has charged former Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) board member Rajan Nayer with three counts of breaching the ICC Anti- Corruption Code.
Nayer was charged after he reportedly approached Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer with overtures to fix an international cricket match last year.
The Harare Metropolitan Cricket Association (HMCA) treasurer and marketing director allegedly approached the 31-year-old legspinner by dangling a $30 000 carrot to fix the two-match Test series against West Indies in Bulawayo last November.
Cremer turned down the approach before making a report to the ZC officials resulting in the ICC instituting investigations.
Zimbabwe went on to lose the first Test before holding on for a draw in the second match.
In a statement yesterday, ICC general manager-strategic communications Claire Furlong said the global cricket mother body has charged Nayer.
The HMCA official has 14 days to respond to the charges from the day he was notified of the developments.
“…ICC has charged…Nayer with three counts of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code…has also been provisionally suspended with immediate effect and has been charged with the following three offences under the Code,” the ICC official said.
“Article 2.1.1 being party to an effort to fix or contrive or otherwise influence improperly the result, progress, conduct or other aspects of an International match or matches
“Article 2.1.3 offering a player US $30,000 to fix or contrive or otherwise influence improperly the result, progress, conduct or other aspects of an International match or matches
“Article 2.1.4 directly solicited, induced, enticed or encouraged a player to breach Article 2.1.1,” Neither the ICC nor Zimbabwe Cricket will make any further comment in respect of these charges at this stage.”
Betting syndicates last year tried to makes inroads by approaching various international skippers in order to influences matches.
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed was approached by suspected match fixers before a one-day game against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi in October last year. DailyNews
