Richardson unrelenting on illegal actions

David Richardson, the ICC chief executive, has reiterated the governing body's commitment to clamping down on illegal actions.

Richardson, who as a player reached the semi-final of the last World Cup to be staged in Australia and New Zealand with South Africa, said the ICC will remain proactive to purge the game of illegal actions.

Several high-profile bowlers have been found to be operating illegally over the last few months, including Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal.

"We want to make sure that we don't lose ground on what I think has been significant progress over the last few months," Richardson said. "The game realised that we had a significant problem and there were just too many bowlers, from all teams, bowling with suspected actions. So, I think we have made very good progress in identifying those bowlers, sending them off to be tested and, where necessary, suspending them until they can remedy their actions.

"There might be one or two who were suspended and who are now coming back into international cricket and the challenge for them will be to make sure that they maintain their remedied action. The instructions to the Match Officials will be no different and these matches will be treated exactly the same as any other international match. And if there are bowlers who are bowling with suspect actions, they might be reported," he continued.

"The ICC-accredited testing centre in Brisbane is on stand-by so that if somebody is reported early on in the tournament, he can go straight off to Brisbane, get tested within five or six days, and we can have the report so that he can either continue bowling if he's found to be legal, or if he's illegal, then he will be suspended."

There also remains a threat of corruption to world cricket but Richardson insists the ICC is well on top of that problem too.

"It's safe to say we're the best prepared we've ever been," Richardson said. "Our anti-corruption personnel have done a lot of work in entering into agreements, associations and arrangements with the local police and law enforcement agencies in both New Zealand and Australia.

"As the years have gone by, our intelligence and information on who these corruptors are, and who may try and fix matches around the world, has grown. We know exactly where these people are and we have got a list of more than a hundred names that we will be passing on to these law enforcement agencies. It will be very difficult for anybody outside of the game to come and even attempt to try and corrupt players, umpires or anybody involved in the World Cup, to try and fix a match.

"In addition, the New Zealand and Australia governments have introduced specific legislation which makes attempting to fix, or fixing matches, a criminal offence. This enables, not only us but the police themselves to take much more specific and direct action against these people who are trying to corrupt the game."