Former Australia captain Steve Waugh has said 56 players reported illegal approaches by bookmakers to the International Cricket Council (ICC) last year.
That compares to just five players informed the authorities of such contacts in 2009. Waugh, who played his last Test match in 2004, has controversially called for players to take lie-detector tests in a bid to root out corruption from cricket and wants to discuss his proposal with the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit (ACSU). The 46-year-old Waugh, a member of the world cricket committee of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the guardian of the sport’s laws, has submitted to a polygraph examination himself. “I don’t know if the ICC is doing enough,” he told BBC Radio’s Test Match Special. “I’d like to have some conversations with them. “They are doing some good work because last year 56 players reported an approach by a bookmaker and the year before it was only five, so that suggests the players have confidence in the system and confidence that it will work. “By taking the lie-detector test I wanted to get the message out there that I was prepared to do this and I saw that (England captain) Andrew Strauss said he was prepared to do one if required too.”
Waugh also called for lifetime bans for captains involed in corruption. “Any captain found guilty should have a lifetime ban because they set the tone and values of the side,” Waugh said. “How can the public get some confidence back? People have been caught only by accident over the years, which only goes to show it’s very hard to prove and catch people. “So let’s go the other way, let’s be positive about it, have people who are ambassadors for the game and are willing to sign these statements and, if required, back it up with a polygraph.” But Waugh’s fellow former Australia international Tim May, the chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) said using lie detectors was irresponsible.
“Lie detector tests are far from foolproof and not permissible as a means of determining people’s guilt or innocence in the courts of the majority, if not all, cricketing territories,” May said.
“It is therefore totally unacceptable that players should be put under pressure to submit to testing that is far from foolproof,” the off-spinner added. Waugh was spurred into action following allegations that former Pakistan captain Salman Butt, and bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif were involved in the deliberate bowling of no-balls during a Test against England at Lord’s last year as part of a betting scam. The Pakistan trio were suspended for a minimum of five years’ each by the ICC — verdicts they are appealing at the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport. They are all now awaiting a criminal trial in England due to start in October.
