Rizwan Javed, a UK club cricketer, received a 17-and-a-half-year ban from all cricket due to his involvement in attempted match-fixing during the 2021 Abu Dhabi T10 League.
Authorities enforced the ban on September 19, 2023, as Rizwan Javed did not address charges related to his involvement in the league.
Rizwan Javed has been banned for 17.5 years by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for corruption charges, taking a decisive stand against corruption in the game.
The ban signifies the ICC’s commitment to maintaining integrity and fair play in cricket, sending a strong message to players involved in any form of corruption.
The ban calls for strict measures to protect the spirit of the game, ensuring a level playing field for all teams and players. This decision is in line with ICC’s ongoing efforts to uphold the integrity of cricket, and protect its global reputation. The cricket community strives to maintain the highest standards to promote a clean and transparent environment for sports fans worldwide.
The corruption charges related to the Abu Dhabi T10 League have hit a new low. UK-based club cricketer Javed has now been banned for 17-and-a-half years for his multiple breaches of the Emirates Cricket Board’s (ECB) Anti-corruption code for players.
Javed is among the eight people (that includes players and officials) who were charged in September 2023 for alleged corrupt practices during the 2021 edition of the tournament. Earlier this year, Bangladesh cricketer Nasir Hossain was banned by the ICC from playing all cricket for two years after he accepted charges of breaching the Emirates Cricket Board’s anti-corruption code.
The ICC’s Code of Conduct Committee, who had taken up the investigation on behalf of the ECB, summed up their verdict after Rizwan Javed’s continuous disinterest in responding to the charges leveled against him. The cricketer also did not appeal against the charges and the overall inactivity has forced the committee to come up with this decision that was taken by Michael J Beloff KC, Chair of the committee.
The charges against Rizwan Javed, as per the press release from the ICC, are as follows.
Article 2.1.1 – Being party to an attempt to fix, contrive or influence improperly matches or aspects of matches in the Abu Dhabi T10 2021 (on three separate occasions).
Article 2.1.3 – Offering a Reward to another Participant in exchange for that player engaging in Corrupt Conduct.
Article 2.1.4 – Directly or indirectly soliciting, inducing, enticing, instructing, persuading, encouraging or intentionally facilitating any Participant to breach Code Article 2.1 (on three separate occasions).
Article 2.4.4 – Failing to disclose to the DACO full details of any approaches or invitations received to engage in Corrupt Conduct under the Code.
Article 2.4.6 – Failing or refusing, without compelling justification, to cooperate with any investigation carried out by the DACO concerning possible Corrupt Conduct under the Code.
Rizwan Javed was provisionally suspended on 19th September 2023 when the charges were first leveled against him. Therefore, the ban shall be backdated from that particular date. Rizwan Javed’s punishment is the latest from ICC’s relentless endeavor to eliminate corruption from the game. While one ban in isolation is far from the objective, ICC’s General Manager Integrity Alex Marshall hopes that this incident will help to create awareness among professional cricketers all over.
“Rizwan Javed has received a lengthy ban from cricket for his repeated and serious attempts to corrupt professional cricketers,” said Marshall.
“He has shown no remorse and no respect for the rules that are in place to protect our sport. The sanction imposed should send a strong message to other corrupters to target cricket at any level and try to demonstrate that any attempt to corrupt cricket will be strongly dealt with.”
