NZ Cricket tightens security around domestic T20s

Wellington: Cricket New Zealand says it will increase security around domestic Twenty20 matches in a bid to tackle corruption.

Head of cricket operations Lindsay Crocker was quoted by Fairfax Media saying extra security would be provided around player areas at T20s to control public access.

Crocker said "players will be concealed behind a protected area. They won't be able to take their phones in and anybody going into that area will need to be accredited, and again they will need to leave their phones."

Crocker said similar measures had been applied to international games for some time and might be extended to other domestic competitions.

He said "if corrupt practice is going to germinate in this country, we think it is more likely to do so around televised matches."

NZ Cricket says it has decided it will not follow Australia in offering a temporary amnesty to players who report approaches from match fixers. Crocker said a board meeting Thursday decided it did not currently have the resources to support such an effort.

"It is a good idea on the face of it but there are also some potential downsides," he told Fairfax. "We are going to watch and see how the Australian one unfolds because they have got a very short timeframe and we can watch and see what comes out of theirs.

"We don't have that capacity. It will be interesting to see what they come up with and whether they come up with meaningful things."