McCullum hits out at ICC
Published: Guardian
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has strongly criticised the International Cricket Council’s handling of players reporting match-fixing approaches. Delivering the MCC’s annual Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s, McCullum drew on his personal experience of having reported an approach to the ICC’s anti-corruption unit.
McCullum stated that he stood by his evidence he gave in former team-mate Chris Cairns’ perjury trial at Southwark Crown Court last year, when he stated that Cairns approached him twice in 2008 to fix matches. Cairns was found not guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice.
He recalled reporting the approach to ICC anti-corruption representative John Rhodes in 2011 and said in his lecture: “Rhodes took notes—he did not record our conversation. He said he would get what I said down on paper and that it would probably end up at the bottom of the file with nothing eventuating.
“Looking back on this, I am very surprised by what I perceive to be a very casual approach to gathering evidence. I was reporting two approaches by a former international star of the game. I was not asked to elaborate on anything I said and I signed a statement that was essentially nothing more than a skeleton outline.â€
McCullum would end up giving a further, more detailed, statement to the ICC and another to the Metropolitan Police, whom he said “were streets ahead in terms of professionalism†compared to the ICC. Cairns’ defence team at the trial focused heavily on McCullum having made multiple statements, branding his evidence “unreliableâ€.
McCullum said in his lecture: “I think players deserve better from the ICC and that, in the future, the evidence-gathering exercise has to be much more thorough, more professional. I do wish that the ICC had handled my initial approach more professionally.â€
He also spoke about his statement being “leaked†to the Daily Mail and said: “To report an approach and to give evidence requires considerable courage—players deserve much better. How can the game’s governing body expect players to co-operate with it when it is then responsible for leaking confidential statements to the media? It goes without saying that if players do not have confidence in the organisation, they will be reluctant to report approaches and the game is worse off.
“All players must report any approaches. It is a fundamental responsibility that we all share for the greater good of the game.
“But it is equally vital that players who do report are treated professionally and that their report is kept confidential.â€
http://www.guardian.co.tt/sport/2016-06-...ts-out-icc
Published: Guardian
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has strongly criticised the International Cricket Council’s handling of players reporting match-fixing approaches. Delivering the MCC’s annual Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s, McCullum drew on his personal experience of having reported an approach to the ICC’s anti-corruption unit.
McCullum stated that he stood by his evidence he gave in former team-mate Chris Cairns’ perjury trial at Southwark Crown Court last year, when he stated that Cairns approached him twice in 2008 to fix matches. Cairns was found not guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice.
He recalled reporting the approach to ICC anti-corruption representative John Rhodes in 2011 and said in his lecture: “Rhodes took notes—he did not record our conversation. He said he would get what I said down on paper and that it would probably end up at the bottom of the file with nothing eventuating.
“Looking back on this, I am very surprised by what I perceive to be a very casual approach to gathering evidence. I was reporting two approaches by a former international star of the game. I was not asked to elaborate on anything I said and I signed a statement that was essentially nothing more than a skeleton outline.â€
McCullum would end up giving a further, more detailed, statement to the ICC and another to the Metropolitan Police, whom he said “were streets ahead in terms of professionalism†compared to the ICC. Cairns’ defence team at the trial focused heavily on McCullum having made multiple statements, branding his evidence “unreliableâ€.
McCullum said in his lecture: “I think players deserve better from the ICC and that, in the future, the evidence-gathering exercise has to be much more thorough, more professional. I do wish that the ICC had handled my initial approach more professionally.â€
He also spoke about his statement being “leaked†to the Daily Mail and said: “To report an approach and to give evidence requires considerable courage—players deserve much better. How can the game’s governing body expect players to co-operate with it when it is then responsible for leaking confidential statements to the media? It goes without saying that if players do not have confidence in the organisation, they will be reluctant to report approaches and the game is worse off.
“All players must report any approaches. It is a fundamental responsibility that we all share for the greater good of the game.
“But it is equally vital that players who do report are treated professionally and that their report is kept confidential.â€
http://www.guardian.co.tt/sport/2016-06-...ts-out-icc
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