Will ICC pull off a corruption-free World Cup?

Dubai: Security is the biggest challenge for the International Cricket Council (ICC) while staging the 2015 World Cup Down Under according to David Richardson the ICC Chief Executive.

The ICC World Cup will kick start with hosts Australia and co-hosts New Zealand taking on England and Sri Lanka respectively on February 14 in Melbourne and Richardson said security has been the biggest expense for the ICC this time.

“Security … I suppose it is reflective of the global situation we are in. That has been a big challenge for us. The spend on security in this World Cup is more than ever before,” he said on Wednesday.

“Previously, the cost of travel and accommodation would exceed the security projects, but now it is the other way round. It is the biggest expense for the World Cup, apart from the prize money. It has been a challenge, but I think we are very well placed so there is not necessarily a threat to the tournament itself, but obviously we have to be aware of the global situation,” Richardson said.

The other factor of course is match-fixing and spot-fixing. Any incident along those lines will be a disaster for the event. However, I think the level of preparedness for this event is again the best we have ever been,” he added.

While Richardson is not worried about the commercial success of the tournament – most of the big matches have been sold out, including the India-Pakistan clash in Adelaide on February 15, the tickets for which were gone within the first 20 minutes – it is security and the ugly spectre of match-fixing that is giving him the hibbie-jibbies. 

The former South African wicketkeeper exuded confidence the World Cup will be corruption-free considering the level of effort that the Anti Corruption and Unit (ACU) and local police authorities have put in.

“The ACU have been working for the last two-three years on putting in place memorandums of understandings with the New Zealand police and with the Australian police to make sure they make it very, very difficult for any of these fellows travelling around the world who are trying to influence matches,” Richardson said. 

(With inputs from PTI)