Cricket: NZ cricket may bring in corruption-busters

By RICHARD BOOCK

A special crime-busting team may be appointed to police New Zealand Cricket's code of conduct affairs.

Hard on the heels of Pakistan's report into match-fixing, NZC chief executive Chris Doig has revealed plans to establish an investigative unit - despite there being little evidence of any corruption in this country.

Australia has already moved to appoint a special investigator and Doig said he believed there was a feeling that NZC needed to be similarly prepared should the unthinkable happen and a New Zealander become implicated in malpractice.

Life bans were recommended for former Pakistan captain Salim Malik and medium-pacer Ata-ur-Rehman, and fines and censures for five others - including former captains Wasim Akram and Saeed Anwar - when the findings of Judge Malik Qayyum's year-long inquiry were finally made public yesterday.

Doig said there was nothing to suggest the match-fixing problems plaguing cricket on three continents had spread to New Zealand, but emphasised that it would be unwise for NZC to rest on its laurels and not be vigilant.

"Sir John Anderson and I have identified a group of code-of-conduct specialists and we've spoken with a possible chairman," he said.

"The big question still involves the issue of need, because New Zealand's been squeaky clean throughout all these controversies.

"But we have to keep thinking ahead and we're determined to be ready to push the button if something comes up."

He said the International Cricket Council's initiative to have all international players, team officials and administrators sign a declaration stating whether or not they had been involved in, or approached to be involved in corrupt practices, would not take effect until much later in the year.

The declaration needed to be standardised by the ICC, and would be discussed in more detail at next month's annual meeting.

Meanwhile, NZC seems likely to support Bangladesh's bid to become the world's tenth test-playing nation.

New Zealand voted against the proposal last year when Bangladesh fell two short of the necessary seven out of nine votes, and remains one of the few test-playing nations yet to endorse Bangladesh's credentials.

Doig said many of New Zealand's concerns last year had since been dealt with by Bangladesh, who recently received the support of Australia, Pakistan and South Africa.

"Their performance and strength in our inaugural conference competition probably flavoured our thinking at the time, and there were also concerns that their administrative and infrastructure was not up to test standard.

"However, I know Australia has offered support in an on-going sense and that's likely to carry quite a lot of sway when we discuss this at board level in the next week or so."

As for New Zealand's looming tour of troubled Zimbabwe, Doig said there were grave concerns over the degree of risk at the moment but he ruled out making any firm decision until later next month, probably after the Zimbabwe election.

"We certainly wouldn't be sending a New Zealand team if there was an unacceptable risk involved," he said. "However, if things should quieten down after the election the tour might well go ahead.

"It's just too early to tell."