As the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup got underway yesterday in the US, across the Atlantic news broke that Durham and England fast bowler Brydon Carse had been banned from all cricket for 16 months after being charged with placing 303 bets on cricket matches between 2017 and 2019.
Insider Sport and Payment Expert Editor, Ted Orme-Claye, and Project Director for SBC Media, Martyn Elliot, joined SBC News’ Senior Journalist, Viktor Kayed, on iGaming Daily, supported by Optimove, to discuss the latest betting scandal in cricket and the sports relationship with the gambling industry.
After a brief discussion about the Bulgarian national cricket team, perhaps the first time it has ever been mentioned on a podcast anywhere in the world, Martyn provides some context on Carse.
Originally born in South Africa, Carse qualifies to play for England through residency. He has played 14 One Day Internationals and three T20 international matches, taking 19 wickets across the two formats.
“He’s a really good promising player and there’s been a lot of talk that he would be called up to the test team which is the highest form of the game,” added Martyn.
“It’s a transitional period for England’s fast bowling attack at test level [and] Carse was one of the ones who had a really good chance of establishing himself in the Test team, but those ambitions are unfortunately on hold for him at the minute.”
Given the nature of his indiscretions, talk soon turns to similar high-profile cases in football and more specifically the ban handed out to Brentford’s Ivan Toney who was found guilty of breaching the FA’s betting rules.
The pair were quick to point out that like Toney, Carse has not been found guilty of betting on games that he was involved in. Also, a large number of bets that he made were during a period when he was sidelined by a long-term injury.
When issuing the ban, the Cricket Regulator cited mitigating factors including his acceptance of the charges, cooperation with the regulator’s investigation, and remorse for his actions. As a result, all but three of Carse’s 16 month ban has been suspended for two years.
In the second half of the show the discussion then moves on to looking at cricket’s relationship with gambling and issues with corruption.
In 2000, the International Cricket Council (ICC) set up an anti-corruption unit to combat the problem and Martyn outlines some of the strict rules in place for cricketers.
He said: “It’s an offence not to report to [the ICC] that you’ve been approached by a bookmaker, even if it’s just to ask for information. Even if the initial approach isn’t necessarily can you fix a game, can you concede a number of runs in and over, that kind of thing. If it’s just they come to you for information you have an obligation to report that.”
Martyn also talks about the rise of smaller T20 leagues across the globe that lend themselves to Daily Fantasy Sports and the unregulated Indian betting market. Already several leagues have had issues with allegations of match-fixing and spot-fixing.
Finally, the episode ends with looking at cricket’s relationship with gambling operators closer to home in the UK.
The day after the announcement of his ban, Carse’s team Durham unveiled a new match-day live stream sponsored by DafaBet, which Ted says sparks a bigger conversation regarding the potential hypocrisy of banning players for betting when the same players are advertising betting sponsors during matches.
