Legends of Sports

Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, has said that he is confident about having a corruption-free World Cup, especially after the anti-corruption tribunal's verdict that banned three Pakistan players on charges of spot-fixing."I am confident for two reasons," Lorgat told."The main one is that the huge majority of players are honest players. They do play the game in the spirit that it should be played. They are not seeking to make gains out of annoying means."Secondly, we are alive to what could come to the fore in terms of corruption.

We have measures in place, and people forget we had been tracking this long before the News of the World had broken the story. Lorgat said the ICC was having discussions at appropriate levels about whether gambling could be legalised on the sub-continent, where cricket has long been under the spectre of illegal bookies and betting."I agree with the notion that if it is regulated, it is a lot better than if it is not regulated.

We have made investigation, and these are the things we are working towards." Since the spot-fixing scandal broke last year, Lorgat said that the ICC had improved its anti-corruption staff, and were now "more watchful around leads we pick up." Lorgat has said that the punishments handed out were severe sufficient, and felt that it would deter players in future."I think it would take someone very brave not to take observe of what has happened.

"In legal terms, you have to be balanced when you mete out punishment. We must distinguish between match-fixing and spot-fixing. This is a very skilled group of judges. They contain huge experience and skill, and they are independent. They have applied their minds and determined on what is a balanced sanction."

Changes could be made to the contentious Decision Review System for a "near to ideal" final model which would be satisfactory to all, International Cricket Council CEO Haroon Lorgat said on Sunday.The DRS has been opposed by a few Boards, including India, and some top cricketers such as Sachin Tendulkar, and Lorgat said some changes could be made to the innovation to convince the sceptical lot."From the start we've always had a very open mind about the referral system and we are always open to changes that can make the system better," Lorgat told 'The Australian Associated Press'.

"There may still be changes to the system, I can't say what those changes might be, but we are open-minded. More and more people are being won over to the system after having seen it or used it. There are still a few people who are not supportive of it," he added without specifying the the exact nature of changes that could be made.Lorgat said players are becoming increasingly confident about the system with the increasing frequency of its usage.Lorgat cited Alastair Cook's referral to correct a wrongful dismissal during the Adelaide Ashes Test agianst Australia as an example of the players' rising faith in the system.

"It is not there to get a wicket when you are struggling to find one, it is there to fix the obvious errors - Alastair Cook's referral on the fourth day when he was given out caught behind off his arm was a classic instance," he said."That's exactly what it is for, and I'm quite confident we are near to the ideal. We will never have it 100 per cent right."Lorgat said those opposed to DRS would also be convinced once its usage is increased at the international level."It is just an issue of them experiencing its use more often," he said."Likewise there was a fair amount of scepticism among a lot of countries two years ago, but the more they have used it the more they have liked it."

The International Cricket Council has decided to introduce the highly debated Decision Review System (DRS) from the quarterfinal stage of the World Cup, scheduled to be held in the Indian sub-continent in Feb-April 2011."The DRS will be used in the four quarterfinals, two semifinals and the final, a total of seven matches, in the ICC Cricket World Cup," an ICC spokesperson told reporters here on Wednesday.He added that the DRS would be used only in the later stages of the tournament, to be jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh from February 19-April 2, because of scarcity of enough number of correct tools for it to be used during the league phase too.

The four quarterfinals are scheduled for March 23 (Dhaka), March 24 (Colombo), March 25 (Dhaka) and March 26 (Ahmedabad).The two semifinals are scheduled be held on March 29 (Colombo) and March 30 (Mohali), while Mumbai will host the final on April 2.Meanwhile, ICC's venue check squad comprising seven groups, visited the Wankhede Stadium here, which is to host the grand finale."The seven groups are dealing with cricket operations, commerce, grounds, legal, security, broadcast and media. They had an inspection of the stadium and whatever they saw today will be shared with the Tournament Director (Prof. Ratnakar Shetty)," he said.

The renovation work in the stadium that commenced more than two years ago is still to be completed but officials of Mumbai Cricket Association, which owns the venue, are confident everything would be finished, barring some finishing touches, by the end of this year."Everything would be ready by December 31 and by January 15, 2011 the final finishing touches would also be finished," said an MCA source.As per ICC's requirements, the organisers are yet to play a few matches on the newly laid pitch and the renovated outfield to test their readiness for hosting World Cup matches.