Oman player charged under Anti-Corruption Code

Oman player Yousef Abdulrahim Al Balushi has been charged with breaching cricket’s anti-corruption rules and has been provisionally suspended with immediate effect. Al Balushi has been charged with the following four breaches of the ICC Anti-Corruption Code, all related to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifiers 2019 held in the United Arab Emirates:

Breach of Article 2.1.1 – being party to an agreement or effort to fix or contrive in any way the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of matches in the ICC World T20 Qualifiers 2019.

Breach of Article 2.1.4 – Attempting to solicit, induce, entice, persuade, encourage or intentionally facilitate a Participant to breach Article 2.1.

Breach of Article 2.4.4 – failing to report the approaches or invitations that you received from three different individuals to be a party to an agreement or effort to fix matches in the ICC World T20 Qualifiers 2019.

Breach of Article 2.4.7 – Obstructing or delaying an investigation carried out by the ACU in relation to possible Corrupt Conduct under the Code, including by concealing or tampering with information that may be relevant to that investigation and/or that may be evidence of or lead to the discovery of evidence of Corrupt Conduct under the Code.

Yousef Abdulrahim Al Balushi has been allotted 14 days by ICC

Al Balushi has 14 days from 23 January 2020 to respond to the charges. The ICC will not make any further comment in respect of these charges at this stage.

ICC has been rigid with its regulations lately. In October 2019, Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan was handed a two-year suspension by the ICC for failing to report three corrupt approaches, including one at the IPL, by a suspected Indian bookie, ousting him from the Bangladesh tour of India. The all-rounder had accepted three charges of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code by not disclosing details regarding the corrupt approaches.

Meanwhile, Oman is slated to lock horns against Nepal on February 05 at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground, followed by an encounter against United States on February 06 at the same venue.

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