Monitor all cricketers’ phone calls , Haider tell ICC

LONDON - Pakistan wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider has said the International Cricket Council (ICC) should monitor call phone records of all professional cricketers to weed out match-fixing.

Haider, who fled from Dubai after he was threatened by some match-fixers, said the ICC will need to start monitoring the phone conversations of all international players and tracking their activities off the pitch.

“The best way is to record all the players’ phones and record where they are going. I don’t want to blame anyone, I don’t want to be negative to anyone. A lot of people are involved. Whether I play cricket or not, I just want cricket to be clear of fixing,” Haider was quoted as saying by the Guardian.

Haider said he was willing to cooperate fully with the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit.

The 24-year-old said he had received death threats before the fourth ODI against South Africa.

“I was told: ‘If you work with us, we will give you a lot of money. If not, we will not select you again in cricket and, if you go back home, we will kill you and your family’.”

Haider also invited the police to investigate his accounts to prove that the allegations of bribe against him were not true. He also confirmed that he had been approached by bookmakers when he was captain of the Lahore Eagles in 2009 and that they had tried to insist he select certain players for particular matches, but he refused to do so.

Haider said he had applied for temporary asylum in the UK, but “does want any aid from the British government”.