Bets worth hundreds of thousands of pounds have been lumped on women’s cricket matches in England sparking fears of match fixing.
Officials are on red alert and probing irregular patterns after a flurry of flutters raised eyebrows.
There is no suggestion any player is or has been involved in corruption in the game.
But the high-profile nature of the professional sport, with a growing number of players earning a living from the sport, has seen the England and Wales Cricket Board [ECB] invest heavily leading to a massive hike in funding, contracts, and a new three-tiered domestic structure.
The current spotlight on the women’s game follows a series of explosive and highly-damaging controversies that plagued the men’s sport and comes after a investigation revealed disturbing patterns including a near £300,000 bet placed on the outcome of a domestic match, and players being badgered for team news via social media.
In February former Bangladesh international Shohely Akhter became the first female player banned for corruption by the International Cricket Council [ICC].
She was found guilty of attempting to fix matches, offering a bribe, failing to disclose full details of an approach to the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Code and obstructing the organisation’s investigation.
In one instance, she even tried to convince a fellow player to get out hit wicket in a match against Australia during the 2023 T20 World Cup, promising to pay 2 million Bangladeshi Takas (£12,000) for the fix.
In an effort to crackdown on the possibility of corruption the ECB is taking a grassroots approach and asking players at lower levels of the women’s game to report any approaches.
Anti-corruption officers are also expected to visit grounds at all levels to look for patterns which could suggest irregularities, like the number of wides bowled in an over.
Last week the Vitality T20 Women’s County Cup quarter final between Kent The Blaze saw more than £296,000 lumped on it via the Betfair exchange, just one of hundreds of betting platforms, while the match was watched by more than 77,000 people on YouTube.
At the same point on the same day, the total bet across all nine men’s county fixtures totalled just £8,535 on that website.
Men’s cricket was plagued by years-long scandals, the most notorious of which was former South African captain Hansie Cronje who, almost exactly 25 years ago, admitted to fixing matches with an Indian bookmaker.
In 2010 Pakistan players Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif were banned and jailed for spot-fixing against England.
The focus of those who want to cash in on the game, despite the effort of the authorities to educate players, is now not elite men’s game but franchise cricket, youth cricket and women’s cricket, where there is less scrutiny and fewer financial rewards.
Steve Richardson, who was investigations coordinator for the ICC’s anti-corruption unit for seven years until 2023, said: “The presence of an anti-corruption official is not indicative of the players doing something wrong.
“It’s indicative of the level of risk that the ECB perceives the women’s game to be at, and the women’s game is now more professional than it’s ever been. With that comes betting markets and with that comes a risk of corruption.”