“When people start taking short cuts for a little bit of cash, it annoys me”
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen has called for strong action to be taken against any player found guilty of match-fixing.
Pietersen, who is playing for the Melbourne Stars in the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL), made his comments after learning that young players were being approached by illegal bookmakers via social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
With the players receiving information about the procedures they need to take to combat match-fixing, Pietersen feels anyone who gets involved in the illicit trade should be dealt with harshly.
“It really pisses me off when I see people taking the short cuts,” he said. “I’ve never taken short cuts in training, and when people start taking short cuts for a little bit of cash, it annoys me.
“I don’t think we’re going to stop it. Whenever there’s television, the reality is it’s going to be there. But I think Cricket Australia does as good a job as any nation around the world in trying to combat it. We get all the meetings and all the information.
“They always give the players all the information they need, they tell them all the stories, they talk about how approaches are, they talk about everything that goes on with it.
“If you’re one of those players who gets approached, and you make the stupid decision to go down the wrong avenue, you’ve just got to belt them away from cricket. Because it really irritates me, it annoys me.”
While Pietersen insists that he has never been approached, he pointed out that bookmakers will do everything in their power to lure players into match-fixing.
Using former South Africa all-rounder Alviro Petersen as an example, he admitted that players at all ages are at risk of being targeted by bookmakers.
Petersen, 36, was banned by Cricket South Africa for two years earlier this month after he admitted to breaching the board’s anti-corruption code 13 times in relation to the 2015/16 Ram Slam T20 Challenge match-fixing scandal.
“I’ve never been approached, never seen it,” Pietersen said. “I’ve heard stories, I’ve heard how they approach and how they go at stuff in the past couple of weeks.
“I know exactly what went down in South Africa and it’s scary how it happens. I’m not going to go into how it happens, but it’s scary how it happens. It’s not a nice situation to be put in. It would be silly to think that’s it’s just young players.
“There’s guys coming to the end of their careers – what do cricketers do at the end of their careers? They’re not footballers (earning lots of money). Some cricketers have earnt a good whack (of money) to not worry about what happens after cricket. But there are some guys who go ‘what do I do? Do I coach, do I set up a business?’
“If you get offered the amount of money that some of these guys get offered later in their career … the eyes open up. So I wouldn’t say it’s just a young cricketers issue.”