SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates (Reuters)
Tighter security is needed at "non-regular cricket venues", according to the chief investigator of the sport's Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU). "Cricket administrators should learn a lesson from other sports which have strict security measures," Jeffrey Rees said after inspecting facilities at the Sharjah stadium.

Sharjah is one of three non-regular venues - the others are Singapore and Toronto - requiring extra vigilance, it was stated in an ACU report into match-fixing that was endorsed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) last June.

"We have had talks with representatives of four American sports - baseball, ice hockey, football and basketball - on this matter,"Rees said. "We would not recommend such tight security for cricket as in the American sports since we don't want to be that strict," said Rees, who visited Sharjah with Bob Smalley, support manager of the ACU. "We are trying to ensure that the name of cricket is not tarnished, and prevent players as well as officials from being compromised."

Rees and Smalley, who were invited by the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series (CBFS), the organisers of international cricket at Sharjah, advised on security matters after visiting the stadium's dressing rooms, VIP enclosure, umpires' room and net practice area. Zahid Noorani, CBFS chief executive, said: "Basically, the (ACU) members wanted to see whether it was possible for unauthorised persons to have access to the players' dressing rooms. The two will write to us about their assessments once they go back to London. We will be more than willing to implement their recommendations.

"We want to clear our name, and that was the main reason behind inviting the ICC team," Noorani said, adding: "The unit members will come back during our next tournament, featuring Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka in October."

Noorani said the CBFS' own probe, headed by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, was moving smoothly. "But it is difficult to come to a conclusion since Mukesh Gupta has refused to co-operate," he said.

Gupta, the Indian bookmaker at the centre of a worldwide corruption inquiry, failed to answer an ICC summons by its July 1 deadline. Gupta was given the deadline to substantiate allegations he made against a number of Test cricketers in an Indian Central Bureau of Investigation report last year.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd