ICC bans West Indies’ batter Devon Smith for five years over corruption charges

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has banned West Indies cricketer Devon Smith for five years from all forms of cricket on corruption charges. The period of ineligibility is backdated to 23 May 2023, when Smith was provisionally suspended. 

The left-handed batter accepted breaching seven counts of the anti-corruption code of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) and the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). 

The ICC had slapped Smith with seven charges, including ‘contriving to fix’ matches, suspending him for corruption in May 2023.

The WI batter had accepted breaching four codes from the SLC anti-corruption code, two from the CPL code and the remaining one from the ECB code.

Last year, the ICC suspended him for his conduct while playing for several franchise-based T20 Leagues worldwide, including LPL, Abu Dhabi and CPL.

Of all the charges against him, the most serious was the one where he attempted to fix a match from 2021 LPL while playing for Kandy Warriors.  

Besides, in the four charges under the SLC anti-corruption code, Smith was ‘contriving or being party to an agreement to fix or attempt to fix, contrive or influence improperly the result, progress, conduct or other aspects of matches.' 

In the remaining three charges, he failed to disclose the details of an approach made to involve him in corruption-related activities. 

Speaking on the same lines, Alex Marshall - ICC General Manager - Integrity Unit, said in the official release that Devon, having played international and domestic cricket over the decade, had attended several anti-corruption education sessions, knowing the consequences breaching any code in future.

Despite that, he got involved in such activities and thus is banned from cricket, sending a strong message to everyone getting into such criminal acts. 

"Having played both international and professional domestic/franchise cricket, Devon attended numerous anti-corruption education sessions," Alex Marshall said. 

"He, therefore, knew what his obligations were under the Anti-Corruption Codes but failed to meet these obligations across three different franchise leagues.

"This ban is apt and should send a strong message to players and corrupters that attempts to corrupt our sport will be dealt with firmly,” he continued.

Meanwhile, Thomas has represented the West Indies in 21 ODIs, 12 T20Is (from 2009 to 2022) and just one Test in Australia in December 2022.