Had no reason or evidence to doubt integrity of 2011 WC final, states Alex Marshall
ICC ACU have given a clean chit to the 2011 World Cup final
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Alex Marshall, ICC's Anti Corruption Unit General Manager, has stated that the ICC ACU had no reason whatsoever to doubt the integrity of the 2011 World Cup Final. On Friday, Sri Lankan police called off the probe into the said game, which began on the back of Mahindananda Aluthgamageās allegations.
Friday witnessed an end to one of the more bizarre happenings in the world of cricket, as a Special Investigation Unit (SIU) led by the Sri Lankan police called off their probe into the 2011 World Cup final between India and Sri Lanka. The probe began on the back of former Sri Lankan sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamageās comments that the game was allegedly fixed, as a result of which the likes of Upul Tharanga, Aravinda de Silva, Kumar Sangakkara, and Mahela Jayawardene were grilled by the police for hours. However, the probe was called off yesterday after the police said that they did not find any evidence to match Aluthgamageās preposterous claims.
Now, on the back of the Lankan police calling off the probe, ICC's Anti Corruption Unit General Manager has stated that the unit had no reason or evidence to doubt the integrity of the said game at any point of time. Marshall said that the ICC ACU were never provided with any sort of evidence by the party that cried foul.
"We have no reason to doubt the integrity of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Final 2011," ICC's Anti Corruption Unit General Manager Alex Marshall said in a statement, reported TOI.
"The ICC Integrity Unit has looked into the recent allegations regarding the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Final 2011. At this time, we have not been presented with any evidence that supports the claims made or which would merit launching an investigation under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.ā
Aluthgamage had earlier alleged that the ICC were sent a letter regarding the final being fixed but Marshall quashed the former Sri Lankan sports ministerās claims. The ACU GM further attested that the unit takes any fixing allegation seriously and urged anyone with evidence to get in touch with the ICC integrity team.Ā
"There is no record of any letter regarding this matter sent by the then Sri Lanka Sports Minister to the ICC and senior ICC staff at the time have confirmed they have no recollection of receiving any such letter which would have led to an investigation.
"We take all allegations of this nature extremely seriously and should we receive any evidence to corroborate the claims, we will review our current position."
"If anyone has any evidence that this match or any other has been subject to match-fixing, we would urge them to get in contact with the ICC Integrity team," Marshall concluded.
