Cricket: Crowe scoffs at bookie visit claim

By PATRICK GOWER

An Indian bookmaker has claimed he met former New Zealand cricket captain Martin Crowe at his home before before paying him $US20,000 ($50,403) to provide information whenever the New Zealand team played.

The report into match-fixing, released yesterday by the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation, contains allegations by Mukesh Kumar Gupta that he met Crowe and his then-wife, Simone, at their home sometime in 1991.

Martin Crowe dismissed the claim as "ridiculous"

"The only contact we've had with this guy was over the phone in 1992," he told the Herald last night.

"So he hasn't been to our place for lunch. It's ridiculous, really."

Simone Crowe was unable to be reached for comment last night.

The most damning accusations in the 162-page document are based on testimony from Gupta, a former gambler and bookmaker, who is also known as "MK" or "John."

He is now a jewellery shop owner in Delhi.

The report says: "MK has stated that he met Martin Crowe in New Zealand, sometime in 1991, after being introduced by [Sri Lankan cricketer Aravinda] Da Silva.

"He has stated that he met Martin Crowe at his residence and Crowe's wife, Simone, was also present during the meeting.

"MK has further stated that he paid a sum of $US20,000 to Crowe to get information about the pitch, team composition, weather, etc, whenever the New Zealand team played.

"However, MK says that Crowe refused to fix any matches for him."

Crowe has said he provided the information after being led to believe that it was for a commissioned series of articles for a "captain's diary" during the 1992 World Cup.

He said he was paid $US3000 ($7560) for the articles, but stopped doing them as soon as he realised he was dealing with a bookmaker and that the articles were a scam to gather information.

Crowe said he expected to be cleared of any wrong-doing in connection with the match-fixing allegations.

Accepting payment for articles was not against New Zealand Cricket policy at the time.

The then-chairman, Peter McDermott, said last night that the board was not happy with players taking money for articles, but it realised "it was an opportunity for guys to use their knowledge.

"So if Martin was offered a job by a journalist, generally speaking, the board didn't like it, but accepted it."

The BCI report names nine former international captains, including Crowe, England's Alec Stewart and West Indian Brian Lara, among prominent cricketers accused of links with bookmakers.

Most of the players named have denied any wrong-doing.

Among the most serious allegations are those made against former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin, who was accused of taking money to fix matches. Azharuddin has yet to comment on the allegations.