McDermott Astonished (5 Jun 1997)

5 June 1997

McDermott Astonished

WELLINGTON -- Suggestions that Indian players rigged a match during their 1995 visit to New Zealand would be a "hell of a shock" if proven correct, says former New Zealand Cricket chairman Peter McDermott.

An unnamed Bombay police officer yesterday alleged he had listened in to a phone conversation in which Indian players told a bookmaker "everything had been arranged" before their one-day match against New Zealand at Napier's McLean Park on February 16, 1995.

India was bundled out for 160 in the 46th over and New Zealand went on to win by four wickets with 17 overs to spare.

McDermott, who was chairman of NZC at the time, said the story had come as a complete surprise.

He knew of rumours that some Pakistanis had tried to rig matches during their tour in 1994, but he had heard nothing similar about the Indians, who toured in '94 and returned for the one-day series in '95. "It does come as a surprise. In my dealings with the Indian management and senior players, although not very deep, I found them to always be very straightforward and very professional," McDermott said.

"I'm not quite as surprised by the rumours involving Pakistan, and I always suspected they may have been better than rumours, but the thought that India would deliberately drop a match -- I don't wear that.

"It would come as a hell of a shock if the story was proven right."

However McDermott was aware that Indian bookmakers, anxious to keep abreast of developments, had kept in frequent contact with some members of the team during their tours to New Zealand.

"I remember once at Eden Park (former international) Phil Horne was manning the 'phones and we kept getting calls from India asking about the state of the pitch and which of the New Zealanders was playing, and things like that, and it turned out that it was a bookmaker calling, not just an enthusiastic fan."

Despite his suspicions that some Pakistan cricketers might have been involved in trying to rig matches, McDermott said he knew that captain Imran Khan and the team management were totally against it and he suggested they would have resigned if they discovered it had been going on.

"Besides, it's a bit hard to believe two or three players could change the outcome of a match, anyway. There would be so many problems for them," he added. -- NZPA

Source :: The Christchurch Press (https://www.press.co.nz)