Cricket Focus (29 April 1999)

29 April 1999

Cricket Focus

The Electronic Telegraph

A judicial commission investigating match-fixing allegations in Pakistan postponed hearings yesterday. Their findings may now be delayed until after the World Cup ends on June 16.

Former captains Rashid Latif, Aamir Sohail and Javed Miandad sought an adjournment citing personal reasons, a court official in Lahore said.

Miandad, who resigned as Pakistan coach before the squad left for England, requested the commission for the postponement saying his mother was sick. Latif also cited similar reasons.

The match-fixing allegations cropped up four years ago when Australian players Shane Warne, Tim May and Mark Waugh accused Salim Malik of offering them bribes to perform poorly during the 1994-95 tour of Pakistan. The commission started their investigation last September.

Dennis Lillee, the former Australian fast bowler, has attacked the International Cricket Council over their failure to act on crowd violence in the West Indies.

"The ICC can count itself damn lucky it doesn't have blood on its hands," Lillee said in a newspaper column following violent disruptions during the recent Australian tour of the West Indies.

Play in the final one-day match in Barbados was interrupted when spectators threw bottles at Australian players. Four days earlier in Guyana, spectators invaded the pitch and prevented the game being completed.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)