samv
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2009
- Messages
- 3,059
- Reaction score
- -24
Cricket match-fixers caught in the act in Sri Lanka
Reporter films Indian fixer boasting of bribing Sri Lankan groundsman to doctor pitch in Test matches.
by David Harrison
14 hours ago
Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit has revealed how criminals fixed two Test matches - the highest level of international cricket - and were planning to fix a third.
The two fixed matches were Sri Lanka versus India in July last year and Sri Lanka versus Australia in August 2016.
Both matches were played at Galle International Stadium in Sri Lanka.
In secretly filmed meetings, the match-fixers also said that they were planning to fix England's game against Sri Lanka, also at Galle, in November this year.
The world cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), has launched an investigation into Al Jazeera's findings.
Robin Morris, a match-fixer from Mumbai, told undercover reporters that he bribed the groundsman at Galle to doctor the pitch to ensure guaranteed outcomes.
The match-fixers then made large sums of money from betting.
'We can make pitch do whatever we want'
In Al Jazeera's documentary, Cricket's Match-Fixers, the groundsman, Tharanga Indika, assistant manager at the Galle stadium, says he can make pitches to favour either bowlers or batsmen.
"If you want a pitch for spin bowling or pace bowling or batting, it can be done."
Cricket's Match-Fixers will be available to watch online on Sunday at 10:00 GMT.
At a meeting in a hotel in Galle, Morris gestures towards Indika, and says: "What happens is he, we, can make a pitch to do whatever we want it do to."
"Because he's the main curator. He is the assistant manager and curator of the Galle stadium."
For the Australia match, Indika says he made a pitch for bowlers.
"In that five-day match, we prepared the wicket poorly without using a roller. In that way, we made a spinning wicket."
The "bowling pitch" ensured that the game would not last for the full five days and so the game would not end in a draw.
Batsmen were out quickly and the match was over in less than two and a half days. A Test match can last for up to five days.
Knowing that batsmen would struggle, the match-fixers made money by betting that the game would not end in a draw.
A Test match can end in a draw only if no side has won when the teams have played for the full five days.
FULL STORY https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018...ers-caught-act-sri-lanka-180525191333678.html
Reporter films Indian fixer boasting of bribing Sri Lankan groundsman to doctor pitch in Test matches.
by David Harrison
14 hours ago
Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit has revealed how criminals fixed two Test matches - the highest level of international cricket - and were planning to fix a third.
The two fixed matches were Sri Lanka versus India in July last year and Sri Lanka versus Australia in August 2016.
Both matches were played at Galle International Stadium in Sri Lanka.
In secretly filmed meetings, the match-fixers also said that they were planning to fix England's game against Sri Lanka, also at Galle, in November this year.
The world cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), has launched an investigation into Al Jazeera's findings.
Robin Morris, a match-fixer from Mumbai, told undercover reporters that he bribed the groundsman at Galle to doctor the pitch to ensure guaranteed outcomes.
The match-fixers then made large sums of money from betting.
'We can make pitch do whatever we want'
In Al Jazeera's documentary, Cricket's Match-Fixers, the groundsman, Tharanga Indika, assistant manager at the Galle stadium, says he can make pitches to favour either bowlers or batsmen.
"If you want a pitch for spin bowling or pace bowling or batting, it can be done."
Cricket's Match-Fixers will be available to watch online on Sunday at 10:00 GMT.
At a meeting in a hotel in Galle, Morris gestures towards Indika, and says: "What happens is he, we, can make a pitch to do whatever we want it do to."
"Because he's the main curator. He is the assistant manager and curator of the Galle stadium."
For the Australia match, Indika says he made a pitch for bowlers.
"In that five-day match, we prepared the wicket poorly without using a roller. In that way, we made a spinning wicket."
The "bowling pitch" ensured that the game would not last for the full five days and so the game would not end in a draw.
Batsmen were out quickly and the match was over in less than two and a half days. A Test match can last for up to five days.
Knowing that batsmen would struggle, the match-fixers made money by betting that the game would not end in a draw.
A Test match can end in a draw only if no side has won when the teams have played for the full five days.
FULL STORY https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018...ers-caught-act-sri-lanka-180525191333678.html
