The news that the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) of the International Cricket Council (ICC) is helping Jamaican police with their inquiries into the death of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer has shed a light on an organisation that spends much of its time probing the shadowy world of 'match-fixing'.

The unit came into being seven years ago after the bribery scandals that eventually led to life bans for South Africa captain Hansie Cronje and the skippers of India and Pakistan, Mohammad Azharrudin and Salim Malik respectively.

Cricket chiefs were concerned by the damage to the integrity of the sport as a result mainly of contacts between players and bookmakers in the Indian sub-continent, where betting is illegal.

Following the Cronje controversy, stories about fixed matches from as far back as the 1970s started to emerge.

In a bid to ensure there could be no similar incidents in future, Lord Paul Condon, the former head of London's Metropolitan Police, was appointed to head up the unit - a post he stil holds.

The ACU's chief investigator Jeff Rees, is also a former Met officer.

He was joined by fellow former police and security officials from around the world and now every Test and one-day international is supervised by a member of the ACU.

Rees is currently in Jamaica working alongside the team hunting Woolmer's killers.

Mobile phones are banned from dressing-rooms and players from all nations are warned about the dangers of talking to bookmakers.

But earlier this year Indian police, who were behind investigations into Cronje's conduct, accused West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels of giving out team information to a known bookmaker prior to the first one-day international against India in Nagpur on January 21.

Although no scandals of similar scope to the one involving Cronje have come to light since the ACU's formation, the challenges confronting it have changed.

Cricket is a game ideally suited to spread-betting, which has grown in popularity in the last seven years.

It is possible, for example to wager huge amounts on how many wides will be bowled, not just in an innings, but even in one over. This has given rise to fears that bowlers may be tempted to bowl so many wides or no-balls in return for a large pay-off.

As Condon has said repeatedly, it is no longer necessary to go to the trouble of fixing a match to land a shady betting coup.

(Article: Copyright © 2007 AFP)