In a first of its kind, former New Zealand batsman lou Vincent and his Sussex county team-mate Naved Arif are set to be charged by the England and Wales Cricket Board for fixing the outcome of a county match in 2011.
Vincent, who has already confessed to fixing and has been under investigation by the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, and Arif, a Pakistani living in England, are being charged with more than 15 counts of match-fixing, according to a report in ‘Daily Telegraph’.
If the players are found guilty, they face lifetime bans from the sport, and the 40-over match between Sussex and Kent played at Hove in August 2011 will be the first proven case of the result of a county match being fixed, the report said.
Vincent, who has given evidence to ICC of fixing in five countries, leading to the reports of alleged involvement of former New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns into the ongoing fixing saga, faces more than 10 charges of fixing with some relating to the Sussex/Kent match and others to another one-day game he played for Sussex in 2011.
Arif faces at least five counts relating to the Sussex game versus Kent alone. The charges, which are being issued by the ECB, rather than the ICC, came just days after Vincent had given anti-corruption detectives a wealth of detail about fixing across the cricketing world.