Hong Kong cricketers Irfan & Nadeem banned for life

Dubai, Aug 26 (IANS) Hong Kong players Irfan Ahmed and Nadeem Ahmed have been banned from all cricket for life, whilst teammate Haseeb Amjad has received a five-year ban after the ICC Anti-Corruption Tribunal found them guilty of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code as per the ICC website.

During the hearing, the Tribunal heard evidence that all three players fixed or contrived to fix matches, failed, for reward, to perform and failed to disclose approaches to fix during a number of international fixtures across a two-year period.

Commenting on the matter, Alex Marshall, ICC General Manager - ACU said: "This has been a long and complex investigation which has uncovered systematic attempts to influence moments in matches by experienced international cricketers over a period of time. Their conduct was premeditated and sophisticated and each of the Ahmed brothers sought to corrupt others.

"The main offences relate to the Hong Kong matches against Scotland and Canada where the players fixed specific overs. These matches were won by Hong Kong so it did not materially affect the results of the tournament, however I cannot reiterate strongly enough to any player considering this that we treat any form of fixing - spot or match - with the upmost seriousness.

"With the fixers finding it harder than ever before to penetrate the highest levels of the game, we are increasingly seeing them turn their attention to other avenues in the sport and we will continue to work with Members to ensure players at all levels are educated about the dangers of corruption.

"The severity of the offences is reflected in the sanctions and I hope will deter other players from taking this path and demonstrate to cricket fans around the world our commitment to a corruption free sport."