Both the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) have expressed disappointment and announced yesterday that they will appeal against the verdict given out last month by the anti-corruption tribunal over allegations of match-fixing in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2013.
In order to probe any probable practice of match-fixing in the second edition of the BPL, the BCB roped in the services of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (Acsu). Following the conclusion of the Twenty20 tournament, Acsu reported that there were some wrongdoings in the competition and according to rules and regulations, the BCB duly formed a tribunal.
After a lengthy process, the tribunal declared the verdicts that found Shihab Jishan Chowdhury, one of the owners of the Dhaka Gladiators franchise, guilty. Shihab was banned for ten years as he allegedly tried to fix a game during BPL 2013.
Former Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful, also the youngest Test centurion in the history of five-day cricket, already confessed his wrongdoing even before the investigation got underway and was subsequently banned for eight years by the tribunal while two foreign cricketers – Sri Lanka’s Kaushal Lokuarachchi and New Zealander Lou Vincent – were also found guilty.
Two national discards, paceman Mahbubul Alam Robin and left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain Rubel along with four other cricketers were discharged by the tribunal.
However, the ICC and the BCB said they were not satisfied with the verdict and as a result, both are set to appeal.
In an ICC press release distributed to the media yesterday, cricket’s governing body detailed its concerns. “The ICC and the BCB can confirm that we have received the full written decision from the anti-corruption tribunal. As previously indicated, we are extremely disappointed at the outcome of the proceedings and seeing the reasons given by the Tribunal for its decision has done nothing to address our concerns.
“In the ICC’s view, clear and compelling evidence of corruption by a number of individuals have not been taken into account properly. Having now had the opportunity to review the detailed decision in its entirety and taken advice on it, we believe that we have very strong grounds on which we can base our appeal. We do not believe that the sport would be sending the right message if it does not challenge what, in our opinion, are incorrect findings.”
Meanwhile, the ICC cleared former Bangladesh bowling coach and the Gladiators’ head coach Ian Pont of any wrongdoing. “The actions of Ian Pont in reporting the corrupt approach and then helping Acsu to establish the extent of the corruption are to be highly commended. I wish to express my thanks to Mr Pont for all that he has done to uphold the integrity of the sport of cricket.”