On 22 September 1817 William Lambert — by then the leading professional cricketer in England — appeared before the MCC committee at the Mary-Le-Bone Tavern and admitted accepting money to underperform in a single-wicket match. The committee voted his ban the following morning. Lambert never played in major cricket again. His confession is the founding document of cricket's anti-corruption record.
Match-fixing through side-betting had been an open suspicion through the 1810s. Lambert was the first leading player to be formally caught.
Suspicions had been circulating through the 1817 season that Lambert had thrown a single-wicket fixture in July. Beauclerk pushed for an inquiry. On 22 September Lambert appeared before the committee. According to Bentley's later account, Lambert admitted accepting £20 to score below 30 in his first innings and was visibly contrite. The committee — chaired by Beauclerk — voted unanimous expulsion the following day. Lambert returned to Burstow and never played at Lord's again.
Jul 1817
Suspect single-wicket match
Aug-Sep 1817
MCC investigation
22 Sep 1817
Lambert confesses to committee
23 Sep 1817
Lifetime ban imposed
“I never deserved the kindness of the gentlemen at the Marylebone Club, and I am justly punished.”
Lambert lived another forty years at Burstow, occasionally umpiring village matches. He died in 1851 still under his MCC ban.
The first documented match-fixing confession in major cricket and the start of the game's anti-corruption record.
The 1817 ban is the earliest formal cricket anti-corruption case. Modern cricket integrity codes descend, in lineage, from this committee meeting.
Cricket Canada
12 May 2026
ICC suspended six months of funding to Cricket Canada over governance failures and financial misreporting — 63% of their total revenue.
Multiple franchises
8 May 2026
The IPL's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) submitted a formal report to the BCCI in May 2026 flagging "certain anomalies" observed across the league stage: unauthorised persons had been seen in the team dugout, on the team bus, and at team hotels during IPL matches in apparent breach of anti-corruption Standard Operating Procedures. IPL chairman Arun Dhumal confirmed the report publicly and warned that "very stringent action" would be taken if violations continued. Separately, the BCCI tightened protocols after reports that certain franchise owners had been seen mingling with players in restricted areas — a specific interaction prohibited under the anti-corruption framework.
Various county sides
1865-08-01
Despite MCC's attempts to reduce gambling on cricket through the 1840s and 1850s, county cricket in the 1860s still operated in a culture where betting was widespread and where allegations of arranged results circulated freely among those closest to the game. Several county fixtures of the decade generated suspicion among contemporaries that the outcome had been agreed in advance, though the absence of formal investigation meant that no players were ever charged.