More revelations as ACB order inquiry (11 December 1998)

11 December 1998

More revelations as ACB order inquiry

Rick Eyre in CricInfo365

The Australian Cricket Board announced today that they would order an independent inquiry into possible bookmaker influence on Australian players after revelations in the last 24 hours that other international cricketers had been approached over the past few years, including another Australian.

Former Australian off-spinner Greg Matthews said that he had been approached by a man in a bar in Colombo during the 1992-93 Test series who was apparently making undue offers to him. Matthews said that his reply was "'champ, if you're talking about me kicking a game or getting a zero, you're talking to the wrong dude". At which point the conversation ended.

Dean Jones had said some time ago that he had been approached with a "biscuit tin full" of money on the 1992 Sri Lankan tour as a bribe. He rejected the offer.

The tour on which Matthews and Jones say they were approached was two years before the one on which Shane Warne and Mark Waugh had taken money from a bookmaker to give pitch and weather information.

English bowler Dougie Brown told "The Express" that he and some England teammates had been approached by a man in a Lahore hotel last year seeking information about team makeup and tactics. Brown had hotel staff eject the man before an offer of money could be made.

Former New Zealand fast bowler Danny Morrison said on New Zealand radio yesterday that he had turned down an approach from a Bombay bookmaker in 1994. Morrison said he had been offered $ 2000 to give weather and pitch information during the Hamilton Test against India in 1994. Morrison named a now-retired Indian player who made the offer on the bookmaker's behalf. He said he couldn't believe the offer and originally thought it to be a joke.

ACB chairman Denis Rogers said at a press conference during the lunch break at the Adelaide Test today that an independent inquiry headed by a judge would be arranged to investigate whether other Australian players had been approached by bookmaker or otherwise involved in corrupt conduct.

Rogers went on to say that no further action would be taken against Waugh and Warne, who were both fined in February 1995 for accepting money from a bookmaker in September 1994. The fact that the disciplinary action was not made public until this week has met with widespread condemnation in Australia and overseas.

Rogers said that given the same situation that the ACB faced in 1995, he would handle it differently today.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard ruled out suggestions of a government enquiry, saying that it was not the business of government to become involved.

Meanwhile, one of Shane Warne's employment contracts has been terminated. London tabloid "Daily Mirror" has ended Warne's column, saying that "we feel he is no longer credible as a cricket columnist."

"We believe millions of our readers could not stomach the hypocrisy of Warne taking cash from disreputable bookies with one hand - and trying to nail charges of corruption against a fellow professional, former Pakistan captain Salim Malik, with the other," the Mirror said in today's edition.

Unlike a vast number of the cricketing fraternity in Australia, Sir Donald Bradman has not commented on the scandal. However, Mark Taylor, who met Sir Donald at his home yesterday for a meeting arranged after Taylor's 334 in Pakistan, said that The Don was "disappointed" at the news. Taylor added that Sir Donald is not one to make rash statements.

Of the two players at the centre of the controversy, Mark Waugh scored an unimpressive seven at the Adelaide Oval today in the face of heckling from the Barmy Army. Shane Warne meanwhile was leading Victoria in the Sheffield Shield match against Queensland at the MCG. Despite going wicketless (0/48 from 15 overs), it was reported to be his best bowling of the season to date.

Source :: CricInfo365