Hashan Tillakaratne to Submit Evidence to ICC

Colombo, May 3 (IANS) : Former Sri Lanka captain Hashan Tillakaratne Tuesday said that rather than revealing the names of the people involved in match-fixing, he would submit the evidence to the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Tillakaratne has claimed that match-fixing in Sri Lanka has been going on since 1992 and also raised doubts on the team selected for the World Cup final that they lost against India. He said he would not reveal the names in public due to legal issues.

"I have been getting a lot of threats and nuisance calls since the time I made the allegations.

"I made the statements (about match-fixing) neither to get political mileage nor to put anyone in an awkward position," Tillakaratne was quoted as saying in the Daily Mirror.

"I made the comments in good faith and I will share the information with the ICC. The exercise was meant to protect the game and the players we all love so much," he said.

On Monday, Sri Lanka's Minister of Sports, Mahindananda Aluthgamage ordered the police to investigate the allegations brought up by Tillakaratne.

Tillakratne, who played 83 Tests and 200 one-dayers during a 15-year career, said he waited for so long to come out with the allegations because of his "security."

Tillakaratne's decision of submitting the evidence to ICC is likely to be favoured by current player and former captain Kumar Sangakkara who advised the cricketer-turned- politician to share the information with the ICC's anti-corruption unit.

"Hashan made those comments in a TV show. It was then taken up by the press. Hashan has played the game for years and he's captained Sri Lanka as well. So it's interesting to see what he has to say and if he has anything more than allegations."

"It's dangerous to throw names around, he should work very closely with the ACSU of the ICC and the home authorities to ensure that something's done about it if there is any foundation to those claims but beyond that I don't think it makes any big sense to the players playing now," Sangakkara said Sunday.