The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided not to press charges under its anti-corruption code against any of the participants featuring in a documentary broadcast by Al Jazeera that alleged two Test matches featuring India had been ‘fixed’.   

The ICC on Monday said its probe into the documentary  ‘Cricket’s Match Fixers’ ended up with “insufficient credible and reliable evidence”.

“The ICC has concluded its investigation into the documentary program ‘Cricket’s Match Fixers’ broadcast by Al Jazeera on 27 May 2018. No charges will be bought under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code against any of the five Participants to the Code who featured in the program due to insufficient credible and reliable evidence,” the world cricket apex body said in a media release.

The ICC said its comprehensive investigation focused on three main areas: the claims made by the program, the suspects who were part of it and how the program gathered evidence.

The program alleged that two Test matches involving India – against Australia (Ranchi, March 16-20, 2017) and against England (Chennai, December 16-20, 2016) – were ‘fixed’,.

“To assess whether the passages of play highlighted in the program were unusual in any way, the ICC engaged four independent betting and cricketing specialists to analyze the claims.

“All four concluded that the passages of play identified in the program as being allegedly fixed were entirely predictable, and therefore implausible as a fix,” the release said.

The ICC said its Integrity Unit has interviewed all five participants to the code who featured in the program “and there is insufficient evidence based on the normal thresholds applied through the Code to lay any charges”.

Alex Marshall, ICC General Manager – Integrity said: “In the case of the claims aired in this program, there are fundamental weaknesses in each of the areas we have investigated that make the claims unlikely and lacking in credibility, a viewpoint that has been corroborated by four independent experts.”

“On the basis of the program, the Participants to the Code who were filmed appear to have behaved questionably. However, we have been unable to assess the full context of the conversations that took place beyond what was seen on screen versus what the Participants claim actually happened.

“This combined with the absence of any other credible evidence means there are insufficient grounds to bring charges under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code,” he said.

However, he said the case would be re-examined if any new substantial evidence comes to light.

“But at present I am comfortable with the conclusion of the investigation and the thoroughness with which it was undertaken,” he added.

India had won the Chennai Test, while the Ranchi encounter ended in a draw.

(SAM)