May wants amnesty widened

Players chief Tim May feels it would be beneficial for all cricket nations to offer an amnesty for information regarding match-fixing.

The England and Wales Cricket Board took the decision to offer its players a three-month amnesty in January in the wake of the conviction of former Essex bowler Mervyn Westfield on spot-fixing charges. There was no new evidence uncovered during the period but former Australia off-spinner May, who is now the chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers Association, believes that it should be widened to all Test playing nations to try and combat the threat of corruption. "My understanding is that they (the ECB) didn't really gather a great deal out of that exercise," he said. "But I think it is a worthwhile exercise for other countries to do. "Just because the England players didn't have much to report doesn't mean that Australian, New Zealand, Pakistan, Indian, Sri Lankan players haven't got much to provide either." The 50-year-old is adamant that match-fixers are still trying to recruit players around the world and he believes that there would be a significant improvement in the tracking down and eradicating of these people with help from the current stars. "I think there are players out there that are holding a great deal of information from the past or even the current that would assist the people who are put in charge of reducing, minimising or eradicating corruption from our game," he added.