DHAKA: Kent all-rounder Darren Stevens is set to travel to Bangladesh in January to contest an International Cricket Council (ICC) corruption charge.

Stevens faces two charges of failing to report a corrupt approach from match fixers, one while playing for the Dhaka Gladiators in Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) – 2013 and another while playing in county cricket’s domestic Twenty20 competition.

Stevens was one of nine players charged by the ICC in August after an investigation by its anti-corruption unit into an alleged match-fixing ring operating at the Dhaka Gladiators franchise.

The ICC hearing has been listed to start on January 19 in Bangladesh with Dhaka the expected venue. It is likely to last two to three weeks.

Stevens has pleaded not guilty to the charges and will be represented by London-based solicitor Yasin Patel, who also acted for Pakistan captain Salman Butt in his ICC tribunal and criminal trial as well as for Mervyn Westfield, the Essex pace bowler who was imprisoned and banned for fixing in 2012.

Stevens faces a ban of up to five years if he is found guilty of the ICC charges.

Stevens was one of more than 20 English players who played in BPL-2013 and were interviewed by the England and Wales Cricket Board’s own anti-corruption officers during last season as part of a joint operation with the ICC.

Anti-corruption officers from the ICC were present throughout the BPL last February and suspicions were aroused by unusual betting patterns surrounding a run-out in a match between Dhaka Gladiators and Chittagong Kings and slow scoring in another Gladiators match against Barisal Burners.

Meanwhile, Warwickshire’s bowling coach, Graeme Welch, has emerged as the favourite to become Derbyshire’s new elite performance director.

Welch, 41, a former Derbyshire all-rounder and captain, was interviewed before Christmas for the Derbyshire job, a new role created following a review that followed relegation in September.

Former Derbyshire batsman Chris Adams and ex-England leg-spinner Ian Salisbury, who were sacked from their roles as Surrey’s team director and first team coach midway through last season, are also understood to have been interviewed for the job at Derbyshire along with England Under-19 operations manager John Abrahams and the former Surrey and Gloucestershire wicketkeeper Jon Batty.

Source: telegraph
BDST: 1745 HRS, JAN 03, 2013
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