UNB, Dhaka :
There were many shady areas over Sri Lanka’s short-lived professional T20 Cricket League called the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) that led to much suspicion and speculation over the authenticity of the tournament for a long time.
There had, however, been no concrete evidence to prove match-fixing in the controversial tournament, but last month, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) which conducted the tournament had finally received solid proof from the International Cricket Council (ICC) that there had been match-fixing in the SLPL, according to Daily Mirror.
Former Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful who is currently serving a five-year ban for match fixing has confessed to match fixing in the SLPL, sources added.
Ashraful had made a witness statement on May 23, 2013 to the Anti Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) of the ICC confirming that he had been involved in fixing the SLPL match between Ruhunu Royals and Wayamba United played on August 26, 2012.
The fixing issue has then created a major storm in SLC following information that SLC President Jayantha Dharmadasa had agreed with ICC at the ICC Board meeting in November 2014 to refrain from taking further action on evidence provided by Ashraful.
SLC Executive Committee had been unaware of Dharmadasa’s action till ICC had forwarded the terms of the settlement agreement in December for a signature on behalf of SLC.
When SLC ex-co learnt of the ICC’s request to sign the agreement, it had led to a heated discussion and the document had been referred to the SLC Lawyers for advice. Though ICC had asked the SLC to sign the agreement, they had not made available the full details of the investigation or the statement made by Ashraful. SLC lawyers had advised the ex-co to refrain from signing the ICC document blindly without obtaining this vital information.
“The issue here is that Ashraful cannot fix a match alone. There must be others, possibly local players involved. But if SLC signs this agreement, they cannot conduct further investigations based on this evidence to find what corruption had taken place” a source told to Daily Mirror.
There were many shady areas over Sri Lanka’s short-lived professional T20 Cricket League called the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) that led to much suspicion and speculation over the authenticity of the tournament for a long time.
There had, however, been no concrete evidence to prove match-fixing in the controversial tournament, but last month, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) which conducted the tournament had finally received solid proof from the International Cricket Council (ICC) that there had been match-fixing in the SLPL, according to Daily Mirror.
Former Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful who is currently serving a five-year ban for match fixing has confessed to match fixing in the SLPL, sources added.
Ashraful had made a witness statement on May 23, 2013 to the Anti Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) of the ICC confirming that he had been involved in fixing the SLPL match between Ruhunu Royals and Wayamba United played on August 26, 2012.
The fixing issue has then created a major storm in SLC following information that SLC President Jayantha Dharmadasa had agreed with ICC at the ICC Board meeting in November 2014 to refrain from taking further action on evidence provided by Ashraful.
SLC Executive Committee had been unaware of Dharmadasa’s action till ICC had forwarded the terms of the settlement agreement in December for a signature on behalf of SLC.
When SLC ex-co learnt of the ICC’s request to sign the agreement, it had led to a heated discussion and the document had been referred to the SLC Lawyers for advice. Though ICC had asked the SLC to sign the agreement, they had not made available the full details of the investigation or the statement made by Ashraful. SLC lawyers had advised the ex-co to refrain from signing the ICC document blindly without obtaining this vital information.
“The issue here is that Ashraful cannot fix a match alone. There must be others, possibly local players involved. But if SLC signs this agreement, they cannot conduct further investigations based on this evidence to find what corruption had taken place” a source told to Daily Mirror.
