Rizwan Javed, a UK-based club cricketer, has been banned from all cricket for 17.5 years by the ICC. Rizwan is among eight players and officials charged by the ICC on behalf of the ECB (in its capacity as the Designated Anti-Corruption Official under the Code) in September last year. Among those named was Bangladesh international Nasir Hossain as well, who is serving a two-year ban. Rizwan was found guilty of five breaches of the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) Anti-Corruption Code for Participants, related to the 2021 Abu Dhabi T10 Cricket League.
Javed, as laid out by the ICC in a legal document, participated in matches for Cheadle Hulme Cricket Club in the Cheshire Cricket League until August 24, 2019, but in this case was under the scanner for his attempts to corrupt players in the T10 league, in particular within the Pune Devils franchise during the 2020-21 season.
Last year, the ICC had said it had "disrupted" attempts to corrupt games, and charged eight people - including Bangladesh international Nasir Hossain - accordingly. While the ICC said that Nasir had co-operated with investigation and had received a two-year ban, in Javed's case, the ICC said he did not respond to the charges or offer co-operation.Javed was provisionally suspended on 19th September 2023 when the charges were first levelled against him. Therefore, the ban shall be backdated from that particular date. Javed's punishment is the latest from ICC's relentless endeavour to eliminate corruption from the game. While one ban in isolation is far from the objective, ICC's General Manager Integrity Alex Marshall hopes that this incident shall help to create an awareness among professional cricketers all over.
