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Cameras won't only be monitoring close decisions and players' behaviour on the field in the series between the West Indies and Pakistan in the neutral venue of Sharjah, starting with the first of two Tests on Thursday.

In a scenario straight out of the CIA, the KGB and MI5 files at the height of the cold war, they are to be placed outside the doors of team dressing rooms and in the hotel foyers by the International Cricket Council (ICC) Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU).

The object is to deter players from any dealings with bookmakers eager to repeat the match-fixing deals that have thrown a dark shadow over the game and brought about the banning of two former Test captains, Hansie Cronje of South Africa and Mohammed Azharuddin of India.

The closed-circuit cameras will be monitored by one of the officers of the ACU. It was formed by the ICC in 1999 at a cost of over US$4 million under the direction of former London police chief Paul Condon, after Cronje's involvement with a Bombay bookmaker was exposed by India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The ICC has said the measures will be applied to all matches under its jurisdiction in future in its drive to root out corruption.

A report presented by Condon to the ICC last year identified Sharjah, one of the seven United Arab Emirates in the Arabian gulf state, as one of the main locations for illegal gambling and match-fixing.

The Indian government has banned its team from competing in tournaments in Sharjah until it is cleared of the allegations.

In response, the Emirates Cricket Board mounted its own inquiry into corruption last year. It was headed by British Queen's Counsel George Staple but its findings are still to be published.

The former Pakistan and Kent captain, Asif Iqbal, organised the several international tournaments staged in Sharjah for the Cricketers' Professional Benefit Fund (CPBF) that paid sizeable endowments to outstanding former Test players, many West Indian, but mainly Pakistani and Indian. But he moved into another overseas cricketing position in recent months.

Abdul-Mohammed Bukhatir has recently set up Taj Television, a new channel based in the Emirates, devoted to cricket and mainly aimed at the cricket-mad markets in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

He has also constructed another cricket stadium in Rabat, Morocco, that was mooted as a possible venue for the West Indies-Pakistan series but is now expected to become operational in April.

Former Test captains, Clive Lloyd of the West Indies, Sunil Gavaskar of India and Ian Botham of England, have been engaged by Bukhatir.

In another controversial decision, the ICC has appointed former England captain Mike Denness as match referee for the upcoming series.

Denness was at the centre of the furore late last year when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) refused to accept him as referee for the final Test of the series in South Africa after he disciplined six Indian players for breaches of the ICC code of conduct in the second Test.

The ICC declared the third and final Test unofficial after the South African board, on India's insistence, replaced Denness with former South African wicket-keeper Dennis Lindsay as referee.

Pakistan and the West Indies have both accepted Denness' appointment. But the ICC has subsequently set up a committee to look into the terms of reference for its referees.

© The Barbados Nation