ICC pledge to increase funds to fight cricket corruption after spot-fixing allegations

Cricket bosses have vowed to plough more funds into the fight against corruption following allegations of spot-fixing in a recent documentary.

Television channel Al Jazeera alleged that three England players — who have not been named for legal reasons — were involved in attempting to fix part of a Test against India in December 2016.

England captain Joe Root labelled the allegations “outrageous” and the ECB chief executive Tom Harrison said: “There is nothing we have seen that would make us doubt any of our players in any way whatsoever.”

Speaking at the One Year To Go event in London today, which marks 12 months exactly until the 50-over World Cup gets under way when England take on South Africa at The Oval, ICC chief executive David Richardson said: “We have made big strides in this area over the last few years and our focus is on disrupting the criminals who are intent on using our game to further their crimes.

“We are in the process of adding to our ranks of investigators to ensure we can continue to do this to the highest standards. We are also investing significantly in education of players at Under-19 and senior level to ensure the education is relevant to them. We are committed to a corruption-free sport.”

Richardson, meanwhile, expects England to be ideal hosts of a World Cup tournament they have never won.

With the increasing prevalence of Twenty20 cricket, the future of the 50-over game has been questioned in some quarters, but Richardson insisted: “There is no question in my mind about the future of this format.

“We are blessed in cricket to have three distinct formats that are popular the world over and we need to celebrate that, not constantly try and kill one of them off! The World Cup will be the perfect illustration of this.

“The UK as a whole has a fantastic reputation as hosts for big global events so we know the crowds will turn out in force.

“What also makes the Cricket World Cup here unique is that every single team will experience ‘home support’ thanks to the cultural diversity of England and Wales.”