‘Courtsiders’ evicted from Cricket World Cup

ICC Cricket officials have banned a group of men from attending 2015 One Day Cricket World Cup matches (Australia/New Zealand) after they were suspected of being involved in illicit betting, undertaking a practice known as ‘courtsiding’.

Courtsiding involves people at a game relaying information via smartphones or mobile communications devices to betting syndicates to take advantage of broadcasting time delays. The practice is different from match-fixing, which was made illegal under New Zealand’s Crimes Act last year

The group of men were accused of using the practice during Saturday’s one day cricket match between co-hosts New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Local media reports stated that the suspects were escorted out of the Hayley Oval by Christchurch police.

ICC officials today stated that the accused men had breached ticketing regulations under suspicion of being involved in illicit betting.

Christchurch Superintendent Sandy Manderson told Reuters Australia., “We know what to look for. We’re aware that people are attempting to operate at venues and they will be detected, evicted and trespassed from all venues.”

The ICC have yet to state whether the accused men will be prosecuted for undertaking illicit betting practices and potential match fixing.