|
|
Change Your Life! |
Australian Cricket Board will investigate allegations of match fixing |
|
News |
May 23, 2000
SYDNEY, MAY 22 (AP) - The Australian Cricket Board will investigate allegations of match fixing in an Australia vs. Pakistan series in 1994, senior officials said Monday.
The ACB was reacting to a London tabloid newspaper report Sunday which quoted former Pakistan skipper Salim Malik saying both teams were trying to throw the match during Australia's tour to Pakistan in '94.
ACB chief executive Malcolm Speed told journalists that the national governing body's newly appointed special investigator would handle the inquiry if the newspaper reports proved credible.
"Before jumping to conclusions we must determine if the comments are simply the idle boasts of a man devoid of credibility who is seeking to impress others or if there is any evidence to support his comments," Speed said.
"Assuming the newspaper reports are accurate, the allegations raised are very serious."
In the News of the World report, Malik was alleged to have told under cover reporters of the illegal betting scam involving Australian and Pakistani players.
"Both sides were wondering what the hell was happening," he was reported as saying. "We were trying to get them to score runs against us and they wouldn't. We were trying to get ourselves out and they wouldn't get us out."
Former Australian spinner Tim May, who is president of the Australian Cricket Players' Association and played in that series, said he had no knowledge of any Australians accepting bribes to playpoorly.
At the recent International Cricket Council emergency meeting in London, called in the wake of South African skipper Hansie Cronje's admission that he took payments from an Indian bookmaker, the ACB pledged to investigate any allegation of corruption or bribery.
"We've always said that if any new evidence comes to light we will investigate it thoroughly," Speed told the Australian newspaper.
"If something has happened, we'll get to the bottom of it."
According to the News of the World, Malik, who has been implicated in match fixing allegations already but cleared by a judge in Pakistan, also told the reporter that an England vs. Pakistan game in Sharjah had been fixed.
"Basically all the games in the Middle East and Asia are fixed," he was reported as saying.
He was also quoted saying it would be easy to fix games during England's tour of Pakistan starting in October.
The paper said Malik told its reporter that it would cost 500,000 pounds (dlrs 750,000) per game and that he would arrange it with players, bookmakers and even a contact he had within the ICC, the game's world governing body.
"It will be easy for me to fix a match," he was quoted as saying. "The players will agree. We've all sat together and done it before. It's better than dealing drugs."
The News of the World said it would make the audio tapes of Malik's claims available to the ICC.
|