Darren Lehmann calls for clean game

Australia coach Darren Lehmann has called for players found guilty of corruption to be strongly dealt with in order to ensure the scourge of match-fixing is successfully erased from world cricket.

Lehmann, a guest speaker at an ACT Brumbies luncheon in the nation’s capital yesterday, expressed his confidence that Australian cricket remains free of corruption but urged the International Cricket Council to continue its pursuit of those tainting the sport.

Lehmann spoke shortly after former New Zealand captain Chris Cairns vehemently denied recent allegations that he has been involved in match-fixing, and attacked his former NZ teammate Lou Vincent and current Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum who have allegedly named Cairns in evidence given to anti-corruption investigators.

Cairns also identified ex-NZ captains Stephen Fleming and Daniel Vettori as well as former seam bowler Kyle Mills as players to whom McCullum allegedly spoke about approaches he received, and added that two of those three former teammates supported McCullum’s testimony.

Vincent is facing 14 charges of corruption laid by the England and Wales Cricket Board in relation to the former Test batsman’s admission that he was involved in fixing matches played in the UK county competition.

Cricket Australia has reaffirmed that no current or former Australian players are under investigation as part of the ICC’s ongoing examination of match-fixing, and Lehmann urged officials to do all in their powers to ensure "cricket is a clean game at all times".

"We've always played the game the right way and hopefully it (match-fixing) never happens in our country," Lehmann was reported as saying in The Canberra Times.

"I'm confident with that - we've got really good policies in place at Cricket Australia that are reviewed all the time to make sure people are doing the right thing.”

But he added that those who are charged and found guilty of engaging in corrupt practices need to face stringent penalties in order to send a strong message that there is no place in cricket for match or spot fixing.

"Hopefully they (corrupt players) get dealt with strongly from an ICC point of view, and (the ICC) get all of their findings right,” Lehmann said.

"They've got to clean the game up.

"You just want a clean game the whole time.

"Anything that's happening from those players or whatever sport it is ... any sport, you just want to make sure it's a clean game."