‘Onus on ensuring the game is clean lies with all’

Haroon Lorgat, the International Cricket Council's chief executive, has had some exceptionally difficult decisions to make since the spot-fixing scandal broke out in England. On Thursday he spoke to the Hindustan Times.

Haroon Lorgat, the International Cricket Council's chief executive, has had some exceptionally difficult decisions to make since the spot-fixing scandal broke out in England. On Thursday he spoke to the Hindustan Times.

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What have been the biggest learnings from the spot-fixing episode?
It's a question we will answer in a more structured manner in time. At the moment it's premature to talk about learnings. We've been stretched handling what has happened. There's no doubt that we might want to strengthen the capability or capacity of certain structures already in place.

What specific changes can you see coming into being?
We're of the feeling that team management of individual countries might have to get more involved, and perhaps be contracted over a certain period of time. This will give the ICC a chance to educate them more specifically about the dangers facing us and the need to be vigilant. The ICC watches over cricket from a distance, but the team management is involved with the players on a day-today basis.

And what about agents?
We may need to work out a system where we can accredit agents in order to know more about the people who interact directly with the players and the team managements.

Ejaz Butt of the Pakistan Cricket Board made some statements that raised a fresh controversy but he has since retracted ...
I'll start from the premise that everybody wants the sport to be clean. The ICC's focus is in ensuring that the integrity of the game is maintained. Every member country is fully committed to working to ensure that the game is clean. There are times when people respond emotionally to something, but when they revisit what they have said after thinking about it, they realise where the ICC stands.

The ICC has a strong presence at its events. Has the time come to have more staff at bilateral series?
At one level it doesn't matter how much you police. You can increase the number of people you have on the ground, but the onus of ensuring that the game is clean does not lie only with the ICC. The players have a big role to play and every country's cricket board has a role.

After the scandal happened there were calls for the series to be stopped. Yet the ICC decided to go ahead with the matches …
The counter argument is that the game is bigger than any individual. If a few were not acting in keeping with the spirit of the game, we needed to take action against them, but not against the rest. We were always firmly of the view that the series should continue as it was important that the game goes on.