ICC refuses to comment on controversy

The ICC has refused to comment on the latest match-fixing scandal to hit international cricket. In a press release, Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, said that it wouldn't be proper to comment on the letter which was allegedly written by Lord Condon, director of the Anti Corruption Unit (ACU), to the Pakistan board hinting at underperformance by Pakistan in two one-day international tournaments in Morocco and Kenya.

Commenting on the report which appeared in The News, a Pakistan daily, Speed stressed that any correspondence between the ACU and a cricket board was private and confidential. "It is not appropriate for the ICC to make a comment one way or the other on these letters or any other issue in relation to potential operational matters for the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit."

However, he insisted that the ICC was determined to eliminate match-fixing. "What I can say is that the ICC is committed to ensuring that the game is never again tainted by corruption and that through the Anti Corruption and Security Unit, it now has in place a professional security and investigative team with the resources to deal with this threat."