Cricket Australia seek information from Al Jazeera over match-fixing claims

The request comes after Al Jazeera’s initial cricket corruption documentary made numerous spot-fixing allegations including the suggestion that two unnamed Australian players had been involved during a Test match against India at Ranchi in March 2017

^{Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland has urged Al Jazeera to present their findings}

Cricket Australia have told Al Jazeera to cooperate with the ICC's Anti-Corruption Unit ahead of the release of a second match-fixing documentary by the Qatari broadcaster.

The request comes after Al Jazeera’s initial cricket corruption documentary which made numerous spot-fixing allegations including the suggestion that two unnamed Australian players had been involved during a Test match against India at Ranchi in March 2017.

The programme also alleged that elements of the 2016 Chennai Test between England and India were fixed, albeit the suspected players were not named, while it was additionally alleged that a Sri Lankan groundsman was bribed to doctor pitches.

The undercover investigation claimed that the main fixer was a man known as Aneel Munawar. He is reported to be heavily involved in the second Al Jazeera documentary and is currently being tracked down by the ICC, who on Tuesday made a public appeal for his identity and whereabouts.

Cricket Australia have asked the TV channel to release all its information to the International Cricket Council (ICC) so that the claims can be substantiated.

Alongside the Australian Cricketers' Association, Cricket Australia has questioned Al Jazeera’s lack of desire thus far to provide details to support their claims.

^{Two unnamed Australian players are alleged to have been involved in spot-fixing}

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said: "We are aware of the new investigative documentary by Al Jazeera into alleged corruption in cricket.

"Since the broadcast of Al Jazeera's first documentary, the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit has been conducting a thorough investigation into the claims made, however this has been hampered by a lack of cooperation from Al Jazeera.”

On the lack of support for the claims, Sutherland said: "We urge Al Jazeera to provide all un-edited materials and any other evidence to the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit."

Sutherland added: "Although not having been provided an opportunity to review any raw audio or footage, our long-standing position on these matters is that credible claims should be treated very seriously, and investigated.

"Cricket Australia's Integrity Unit have conducted a review of the latest claims by Al Jazeera, from a known criminal source, and, from the limited information provided by Al Jazeera, our team have not identified any issues of corruption relating to current or former Australian players.

Alistair Nicholson, Australian Cricketers' Association chief executive, said: "The players have zero tolerance for any behaviour that may impact upon the integrity of the game.

"However, enough is enough when it comes to people making unsupported accusations that have the ability to unfairly tarnish players' reputations.

"Whoever is making these allegations should provide all the information they purport to have to the ICC to allow them to assess it."

ICC MAKE PUBLIC APPEAL FOR ALLEGED MATCH-FIXER