Stumped but 'not out' for two decades

Match fixing may not be exactly a new phenomenon. There has been talk of cricketers throwing away matches for money for some years now. But the Hansie Cronje affair has brought out the various aspects of the unholy alliance between bookies and cricketers out into the open. The chronological list below illustrates that in the past too there have been instances of allegations and counter charges.

The list unfolds some of the charges of match fixing, betting and players providing inside information from 1979-80 to 1999-2000 till the 'Hansiegate' scandal which broke recently. The South African captain confessed that he did accept money. He is not the only one to have done so as the list below shows.

1979-80: An early instance of allegations about match fixing comes up during the series between India and Pakistan. It happened in the sixth and final Test at Calcutta when Asif Iqbal reportedly picked up the coin and told his counterpart GR Viswanath that India had won the toss. This allegation was made by Sarfaraz Nawaz nearly two decades later in 1999. Further allegations surround Asif Iqbal's unexpected declaration of Pakistan's first innings, when they were 59 runs behind India.

1981: Australian players Dennis Lillee and Rodney Marsh bet against their own team, backing England at the odds of 500 to one in the Headingley Test. No action is taken against them.

1992-93: Australian Dean Jones says he was offered $50,000 by an Indian to provide information about the Australian team during the Sri Lankan tour.

1993: Former Australian captain Allan Border says he was offered a sum of 500,000 pounds to lose a Test match against England by former Pakistan captain Mushtaq Mohammed. Mushtaq said he was 'joking'.

1996: Former England manager, Ray Illingworth said he received a call in his room asking him to lose the match against Pakistan during the 1996 World Cup.

1996: Sunil Dev, the Indian team manager to South Africa reports of Indian players indulging in match fixing and demands a judicial enquiry.

1997: Former Indian all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar accuses a fellow colleague of offering Rs. 25 lakh to him to throw a match in Sri Lanka in 1994.

1997: Prabhakar's revelation leads the BCCI to appoint a commission under Justice Chandrachud to look into the match fixing allegations. He conducts an enquiry and hands the findings to the board with no conclusive proof of players' nexus with bookies and their involvement in match fixing.

1998: Pakistan bowler Ata-ur-Rahman claims that Wasim Akram offered him Rs three lakh to bowl badly and lose the one day match to New Zealand at Christchurch. He later denies the charge.

1998: Wasim Akram resigns as captain of the Pakistan team after allegations of his involvement in match fixing.

1998: ICC reveals the names of Wasim Akram, Salim Malik and Ijaz Ahmed in their involvement in match fixing. Pakistan Cricket Board starts investigations into the allegations.

1998: Wasim Akram, Salim Malik, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Ijaz Ahmed accused of match fixing by fellow team mate Rashid Latif. Latif also accuses Salim Malik of match fixing during Pakistan's twin tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe in 1994-95. He later denies the charge.

1998: Aamir Sohail charges Salim Malik and Mushtaq Ahmed of under performing because of money against Australia at Colombo in 1994.

1998: The Australians join the band wagon. Mark Waugh, Shane Warne and Tim May claim they were offered a sum of $50,000 to lose a Test match by Salim Malik in the Australian tour to Pakistan in 1994.

1998: Mark Waugh and Mark Taylor depose before a one man enquiry commission set up by PCB and repeat that they were offered money to lose a Test match in 1994. An Australian Cricket Board (ACB) official accompanies the players.

1998: ACB calls for ICC to take up the matter and asks for appointment of an independent panel to look into the match fixing allegations.

1998: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in its interim report implicates three Pakistan players and recommends a ban on the accused players.

1998: Saaed Anwar, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mustaq Ahmed deny their links with the bookies before the judicial commission.

1998: The Pakistan government takes over from the one man commission and conducts a governmental enquiry into the interim report to investigate into the matter.

1998: Australians Shane Warne and Mark Waugh confess to have accepted $11,000 from an Indian bookie to give some information related to weather and playing conditions during a tournament played in Sri Lanka in 1994.

1998: New Zealand paceman Danny Morrison says he was offered $1000 by an Indian player to take a phone call from a bookie.

1998: BCCI president Raj Singh Dungarpur dismisses the charges made by Danny Morrison and refuses to reopen the case of match fixing.

1998: Sports Minister Uma Bharati says in a discussion in the Rajya Sabha that the government would examine the issue if required by the BCCI. Chetan Chauhan, a former cricketer and MP, demands a CBI investigation into the allegations of match fixing.

1998: ACB says it fined Waugh and Warne for accepting money from a bookie.

1999: Salim Malik and Ijaz Ahmed suspended from playing for Pakistan.

1999: Hansie Cronje admits that he was approached by a bookie during the 1996-97 South African tour of India, says UCBSA.

1999: Former England all-rounder Chris Lewis says he was offered 300,000 pounds by an Indian businessman to persuade England players to throw a match against New Zealand.

2000: Chris Lewis, a former England all-rounder says the one day games between England and South Africa at Headlingley (1998), England and India at Edgbaston (World Cup 1999) and the final Test at Centurion South Africa v England (2000) were fixed.