Lie detectors and life bans to foil cricket corruption

The MCC’s world cricket committee has called for life bans to be introduced as a top-end punishment for corruption in the game.

Headed by former Australia captain Steve Waugh, the MCC’s anti-corruption working party submitted ten recommendations to be put to the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption and security unit (ACSU).

As well as the life bans for captains, vice-captains and coaches found guilty of corruption, the list includes the possible use of undercover investigators to tempt players thought to be susceptible to criminality.

It was undercover reporting which revealed the Pakistan scandal in 2010, when captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were found to have taken part in a spot-fixing plot during the tour of England.

All three were jailed and also handed long bans by the ICC. Skipper Butt was banned from cricket for 10 years, of which five were suspended, meaning he could play again in September 2015. Under the under the MCC proposals his career in cricket would be already finished.

After a two-day meeting in Cape Town, an MCC statement said any covert operation should be “preferably directed at somebody already suspected”.

The recommendations also suggest using lie detectors on players under suspicion but suggest that their use should be at the behest of those under investigation.

The MCC, which has a role as the “guardian” of cricket, also indicated dissatisfaction with the inconsistent use of cricket’s decision review system (DRS).

India have refused to embrace DRS, while teams decide before matches to what extent it will enter play. That has resulted in variations between series, particularly with regard to hot-spot technology and the predictive element of the Hawkeye ball-tracking system.

The MCC statement said: “The committee has urged the ICC to ensure uniformity on the implementation of the decision review system. It is wrong that there are such different playing conditions – that the DRS is not used when India play.”

The committee backed experimenting with day/night Tests, and said it was “disappointed” that England’s Test series with South Africa this year will consist of just three matches. It also heard from Majid Khan, the former Pakistan captain, on security issues in his country and recommended that, on the basis of his report, an MCC delegation should make a visit to consider the potential for playing international cricket there in future.

Due to security fears, stemming from a terrorist attack on the touring Sri Lanka team in Lahore in 2009, Pakistan have been restricted to playing matches in other countries. They play England in a three-match Test series in the United Arab Emirates, beginning next week.