A senior Australian journalist has joined critics slamming the International Cricket Council's probe into match fixing as 'dull' after the investigation's assurances that no Australian players or teams they were involved in have been questioned.
Malcolm Knox has pointed out the fact that former Australian players Matthew Elliott and Damien Martyn were their New Zealand counterpart Lou Vincent's teammates in an Indian Cricket League match, which Vincent was allegedly asked to fix. .
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Knox further ridiculed the ICC's failure to question the numerous Australian players playing in the ICL, which he termed as a 'hybrid of cricket, professional wrestling and world poker tour', even if they are not under suspicion for fixing.
Referring to Vincent's statement to the corruption investigators where he claimed to have hit an 'accidental six', Knox said that given the 'accidental six' can be isolated as Vincent played numerous matches, Martyn was his batting teammate in one such instance, where Elliot also played.
Stating that the leaking of Vincent allegation was most likely been motivated by an impatience with the ICC anti-corruption unit to 'bury the matter', Knox also said that many fear that the roots of corruption run too uncomfortably close to the centre of power, for which the ICC is not making much inroads in their investigation.
Knox further said that for as long as basic investigations fail to be carried out, the cricket community will lack faith in the ICC, and will harbour the belief that the game's police are just as compromised by corruption as the criminals.