A leading figure in county cricket says an anonymous player's revelations he had been approached to fix a match could help "flush out" corruption. The player went directly to the Professional Cricketers' Association after rejecting the approaches of an unnamed Indian businessman. PCA chief executive Angus Porter told BBC Sport: "It is for the good of the game that we flush things out now. "In the process, we may uncover things we might not like." He added: "We are already concerned, but also encouraged, that what we are seeing is players reporting these issues." The BBC has learned that the player, whose revelations first appeared in Wednesday's Daily Telegraph, wishes to remain anonymous for as long as possible. But Porter confirmed initial approaches to the International Cricket Councils' Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) were being made - only 24 hours after the player first came forward to speak to the PCA. Among the issues Porter is hoping to resolve speedily is whether the player will have to identify himself to allow the ACU to launch an investigation of its own.  | They basically told me I could name my price for providing them with knowledge of the result of the game and they made me believe other counties are already involved |
The PCA is also trying to establish whether the businessman was someone already known to the player and whether contact was made face-to-face or over the telephone. The player, who has more than 10 years' experience in English cricket, was informed other county professionals had already accepted money from bookmakers. "They basically told me I could name my price for providing them with knowledge of the result of the game and they made me believe other counties are already involved," he said. "My worry with this is that there will be a situation where two of the smaller counties play against each other in a televised game and they could come to an agreement and make about five times their salary from one match. "This problem is a lot more serious than people think. Others could be out there naming their own price. It is a scary thought." Matches in the domestic one-day competitions, the Clydesdale Bank 40 and the Friends Provident T20 are transmitted live to television audiences in India, from where illegal betting rings routinely provide the funds when attempts are made to bribe players or officials. Lord Condon, the outgoing head of the ACU, said recently that cricket was now more vulnerable to a form of fixing called spot-fixing, which involves a player being paid to perform a specific act at a specific time. | 606: DEBATE |
Essex police are currently conducting an investigation into alleged spot-fixing after two players, Mervyn Westfield and Danish Kaneria, were arrested and bailed until September. Neither player has been suspended by Essex. Kaneria is currently appearing regularly for the county in Division One of the Championship and is due to turn out for Pakistan against England later this summer. Westfield is playing for the county's second XI. This latest allegations of match-fixing are an example of a more old-fashioned form of fixing - and the player was left with the impression that if he did not tagree to help then somebody else would. "Their line of communication with me was that other people were already involved," he said. "I don't know if they were just telling me that to persuade me to get involved or whether it was serious. The idea was that I would take the offer into the dressing room to get the others to agree." County players were briefed by the PCA before the start of this season about what to do if they received a suspicious approach. An education programme has been in place for nearly a decade following the exposure of the late Hansie Cronje, the former South Africa captain, by Indian police. That scandal led to the formation of the ACU unit which, from next week, will have a new chairman in Sir Ronnie Flanagan, a former head of the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Northern Ireland.
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