HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s Irfan Ahmed, Nadeem Ahmed and Haseeb Amjad have been charged by the ICC with breaching its anti-corruption code for a total of 19 counts. The ICC provisionally suspended the players with immediate effect, pending determination of the charges, a release from the governing body said on Monday.
All three players were charged for matches at the 2015 World Cup Qualifiers played in January 2014, with brothers Irfan and Nadeem also charged for one or more matches at the 2016 World T20. Irfan faces additional charges for a 2014 World T20 warm-up match, against Zimbabwe in Chittagong, and for one or more matches at the World T20 Qualifiers played in 2015. Irfan was charged with nine offences, Nadeem and Amjad five offences each.
The matches under scrutiny from the World Cup Qualifiers played in 2014 include a group game against Scotland and another group match played against Canada four days later. Hong Kong won against Scotland by 17 runs and beat Canada by nine wickets. All three players were charged for these two matches, with Irfan and Haseeb accused of underperforming in the Canada game.
The ICC release did not mention the additional matches Irfan and Nadeem were charged for from the 2016 World T20, and the ones Irfan alone was charged for from the World T20 Qualifiers played in 2015.
Twenty-eight-year-old Irfan, an opening batsman and a medium-pacer, had previously been suspended for two-and-a-half- years by the ICC after he admitted to breaching the anti-corruption code. He was not charged with any offence involving corruption on that occasion, but for failing to disclose “full details of approaches or invitations to engage in corrupt conduct that had been made to him between January 2012 and January 2014”.
The three players have 14 days from October 8 to respond to the charges.