LONDON. — As the tennis world reels from match-fixing claims, fresh scandals have embroiled cricket, sparking scepticism of efforts to tackle corruption that has plagued the “gentleman’s game” in recent years.

An explosive report this week claimed match-fixing in tennis was repeatedly going unpunished, while world number one Novak Djokovic said he was once offered $200 000 to fix a match in Russia.

The report came after the sports world was stunned by allegations of doping cover-ups in athletics and a string of scandals engulfing football’s governing body FIFA.

But corruption claims have also returned to haunt cricket, threatening once again to sully the sport which has been battling to curb the influence of illegal bookmakers on matches.

Sri Lanka this week suspended their fast bowling coach amid a police investigation into alleged attempts to bribe players to under-perform in a Test match against the West Indies in October.

In one of the biggest cases last year, New Zealand star Chris Cairns was acquitted of perjury charges in November linked to a match fixing case.

Lawrence Booth, editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, warned that the case could deter players from coming forward to report wrongdoing.

Although the result was vindication for the all-rounder, the treatment of witnesses in the case such as New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum could make players think twice about coming forward, he argued.

Players who cooperated with investigators had confidential testimony leaked and could have their characters assassinated by defence lawyers.

“I think the concern over the outcome of the Cairns trial is that it may dissuade other cricketers to come forward and testify against their former teammates, which is a crucial element of the battle against corruption,” Booth said in an email. Grassing up a colleague goes against the dressing-room grain, but without whistleblowers cricket would be even more trouble than it already is.”

In a sign that cricket fans are unwilling to stomach any more scandals, Pakistan paceman Mohammad Amir (23) was booed by the crowd in New Zealand this month when he made his international comeback after serving a five-year ban and being jailed for bowling no-balls to order in a 2010 spot-fixing scandal. — AFP.

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