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Vaughan blames ICC for not keeping cricket clean

August 30, 2010 13:51 IST

Former England captain Michael Vaughan said the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption unit has failed to keep cricket clean and blamed the taskforce for not policing the sport properly.

London based bookie Mazhar Majeed was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers over an alleged betting scam involving several cricketers from the Pakistan team but was later released on bail.

British tabloid The News of the World claimed that it paid Majeed for advance details of when three no balls would be played in the fourth and final Test between England and Pakistan, which the former won by an innings and 225 runs to win the series 3-1.

- What is spot-fixing?

The Scotland Yard also questioned three Pakistan players over the alleged spot-fixing claims and the detectives confiscated mobile phones of Mohammad Aamir, Mohammad Asif and captain Salman Butt.

"There is a problem, a big problem. I've had a few conversations with a few players in the England team and they just feel completely flat," Vaughan said.

"They feel the whole thing has been devalued. Unless something drastic happens to individuals and teams, then this will go on forever and ever," The Sun quoted him, as saying.

- The betting scandal

"We've had an anti-corruption unit for how long? Why does it take an English newspaper to bring this out?"

Vaughan also claimed that the ban on mobile phones in the players' dressing rooms, which could be used to communicate with bent bookies, is rarely enforced.

"Are you checked? No. At the moment it's easy to communicate from inside the dressing room if you want to," he said.

Source: ANI