A 1994 game which has become a notorious landmark on cricket's suspected trail of corruption is again stoking the fires of scandal. RICHARD BOOCK reports.
Claims Australia and Pakistan were attempting to lose a controversial one-day cricket international six years ago have touched a raw nerve across the Tasman.
Australian Cricket Board
chief executive Malcom Speed has promised to investigate sensational allegations that a match in 1994 was the target of a double-fix by bookmakers.
Speed was responding to claims made in Britain's News of the World newspaper that former Pakistan captain Salim Malik had told undercover reporters of a match in which both teams had been bribed to lose, resulting in a showdown of near-farcical proportions.
"Before jumping to conclusions we must determine if the comments are genuine or simply the idle boast of a man devoid of credibility who is seeking to impress others," Speed said yesterday.
Australia would make the allegations the first task of a special investigator, whose appointment will be announced later this week, and all players and officials from the 1994 tour of Sri Lanka and Pakistan would be put on notice that they might be questioned again.
The second ODI of the World Series, played between Australia and Pakistan at Colombo's Sinhalese Sports Club Ground on September 7, 1994, has remained a notorious landmark on cricket's suspected trail of corruption.
Australia were dragged kicking and screaming into the scandal two years ago, when it was revealed the ACB had fined Shane Warne and Mark Waugh for providing weather and pitch information to an Indian bookmaker over five months from September 1994.
History recalls that Australia won the ODI in question by 28 runs after mustering 179 for seven on a viciously turning surface, with Mark Waugh stumped off legspinner Mushtaq Ahmed for 23 and Warne bowled by Wasim Akram for 30.
In reply, Pakistan, who had lost Asif Mutjaba to an injury in the field, were coasting at 77 for one before being undone by a combination of Warne's legspin, Steve Waugh's miserly slow-mediums, and what reports referred to at the time as some "abominable bad luck."
Inzamam ul-Haq ran past a Warne legspinner, Saeed Anwar, who had rushed to 43, retired hurt with a leg injury, and Basit Ali had barely arrived at the crease when he struck Warne a return catch, effectively reducing Pakistan's chase to 83 for five.
Warne took three for 29 and the man-of-the-match award and Steve Waugh tookthree for 15 off 10 overs, while Malik laboured for 84 minutes and 51 balls over 22.
News of the World reporters claimed to have videotaped conversations with Malik, who allegedly promised to fix matches for up to 500,000 ($1.6 million) a game.
In a comment likely to further rock an already damaged cricket community, the middle-order batsman apparently told reporters that a "greedy" official from the International Cricket Council usually acted as his go-between.
Malik, who has rejected the tabloid's allegations and promises to give his side of the story on Friday, reportedly claimed Bangladesh's surprise win over Pakistan in last year's World Cup was fixed, as was a one-day final victory by England over Pakistan in Sharjah, and Sri Lanka's 1995 test win in Pakistan.
He also attacked Shane Warne and Mark Waugh for revealing his 1994 offer to bribe the Australians.
"The thing about white players is you can't trust them," Malik is quoted as saying.
A 1994 game which has become a notorious landmark on cricket's suspected trail of corruption is again stoking the fires of scandal. RICHARD BOOCK reports.
Claims Australia and Pakistan were attempting to lose a controversial one-day cricket international six years ago have touched a raw nerve across the Tasman.
Australian Cricket Board
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