Players to give undertaking against match-fixing

Karachi, June 30: All the international cricketers will have to sign declaration that they "are not, have not been and never intend to be involved in match-fixing".

The draft of the declaration will be sent by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to all the cricket boards. The document is presently being prepared by the legal advisors of the game's governing body.

The director the PCB, Yawar Saeed, said from Islamabad that the Pakistan team players will be asked to sign declaration on return from Sri Lanka.

Yawar Saeed, who returned from London on Friday, said the decision was taken by the ICC which discussed match-fixing and how to control the menace in detail.

"There were several suggestions but for the moment, this is the step which the ICC has taken.

The South Africans signed a similar declaration on Thursday before their departure for Sri Lanka presumably on the instructions of the ICC.

The PCB spokesman said no discussions were held on Justice Qayyum report which was submitted to the ICC who forwarded to its Lord Griffith, the chief of ICC's code of conduct commission .

However, Yawar Saeed said Paul Condon, the new chief of the ICC anticorruption body, will only assist Lord Griffith's body in digging out information. He added that Condon will not probe old cases.

Bacher's allegations: Yawar Saeed said Ali Bacher, who accused Pakistan of playing two fixed matches in the World Cup, has not been removed from the ICC but has been replaced as chairman of the ICC development committee.

"In addition to this, an investigation will take place against Bacher for his outbursts," Yawar Saeed said.

He said Lord Griffith will now write to Bacher to seek clarification if he really accused three teams of playing fixed matches. If Bacher admitted, Yawar continued, Lord Griffith will ask him to provide evidence.

"Of course, he (Ali Bacher) will be asked why disciplinary action should not be taken against him in case of his inability to prove the allegations," he said.

Javed Akhtar: The PCB has been told by the ICC to probe Javed Akhtar's involvement in match-fixing. But he emphasised that the PCB has not been asked to inquire into his team's involvement in matchfixing in World Cup. "But we have been told to investigate Javed Akhtar's alleged involvement with a bookie."

Yawar Saeed said when the ICC told them to look into the issue, the stand of the PCB was very clear. "We told the ICC that at Headingley in 1998, Javed Akhtar was a representative of the ICC panel of umpires. We, therefore, requested to be provided with match referee and captains reports."

Yawar said the report will be made available next week but added that he has seen the reports in which none of the three individuals have expressed suspicion about Javed Akhtar.

"Well, if the three involved in the match did not have any suspicion, what we do about it. But we will do our side of the work and report back," he said.

Australian `secret chapter': Yawar Saeed said the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) also submitted their report on match-fixing. He said the `secret chapter' of the investigations was an unsubstantiated allegation of match-fixing against Shane Warne and Mark Waugh.

"The report was that Warne and Waugh took money to provide dressing room information and play under-par. But all was unsubstantiated and without any evidence," he said.

Waugh and Warne were fined for providing weather and pitch report to a bookie during the Colombo quadrangular tournament in 1994.

He said News of the World would be providing the video footage of Salim Malik's interview to Australian and Pakistani boards in the coming week.

He admitted that Salim Malik has not been issued a letter by the board informing him that he has been banned for life. He, however, said he will receive the letter as soon as board's legal advisors return from vacations next week.