Dirk Nannes speaks up about spot fixing in the BPL

Former Australian cricketer Dirk Nannes has been a globe trotter when it comes to playing the different T20 leagues in the world. Recently, he spoke at length at about how he saw spot fixing take place in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). His remarks have come at a time when the Australian cricket was recently shaken up by claims of the Perth Ashes test being fixed.

Some bookies had claimed that they have the power to book the Ashes fixture in Perth and some of the BBL matches with the help of an international all-rounder. Well, Dirk Nannes feels that the fixing that he had seen in Bangladesh remains unmatched. He quoted that it was the only T20 league in the world where the owners stayed in continuous touch with the coaches and kept dominating the decisions.

“The Bangladesh Premier League, that was the interesting one. The first time there were owners who’d come along. The owners weren’t allowed on the ground, but there would be a team manager going to the owner and saying, ‘What are we doing next’, then going to the coach. The security guys were saying enough was enough. But it just kept going on. The owners were sitting there on the phone. The owners were demanding that they be in constant touch with the coach because that’s why they bought the team,” quoted Dirk Nannes to ABC Radio.

Security could not even kick out spotters

Explaining his point further, Dirk Nannes recalled that there were people who used to shout from the boundary lines to indicate players to do do things in some peculiar fashion. Also, the security guards at the venue often saw it as well. In fact, everyone in and around the venue saw these things happening. However, none could do anything about it. Nannes added that the security guards in Bangladesh are helpless as nobody listens to them either.

He remarked that there used to be spotters in the crowd, who would spot the signs given by the players that indicated that they were ready to do as ‘planned’. The spotters would then contact the bookies and the bookies fixed the matches subsequently.

“There were a few games I watched on television when I played in the Bangladesh Premier League, and you could hear the players on the ground yelling at the batsman because you saw it was flat-out wrong. The security guys knew it, the guys on the ground knew it, everybody knew it,” said Nannes.

“The spotters were people up in the crowd. They’d have a microphone in the cuff of their shirt, and 10 mobile phones around their waist. Anytime something happened, they’d lift their sleeve and speak into the microphone, and have time to do whatever they were doing. Security couldn’t do anything except kick them out. Actually in Bangladesh, they couldn’t even do that,” he added further.

On spot fixing allegations in Australia

Commenting on the recent spot fixing allegations in Australia, Dirk Nannes mentioned that he feels the Australian cricketers would never indulge in such unscrupulous practice. He remarked that the players in Australia are already rich enough and hence such claims of fixing does not make much sense. There could be fixing in the local matches, but when it comes to representing the country, such claims make very little sense.

“I may be being naive, because from my opinion, everyone I played with in Australia has always gone 100 percent to win the game. You’re talking about those satellite tournaments where there’s not as much professionalism is in the game. We talk about that Sunstory, some of the Australian players are getting five million or more. They’re talking about 60 grand? Then you’ve got to split it. [Players] would never go anywhere near that,” conceded Nannes.