Substantiate the allegations, is players' call

Former New Zealand cricket captain Martin Crowe is adopting the same stance as Australian batsman Mark Waugh in refusing to speak to the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption investigator Sir Paul Condon.

Crowe's lawyer David Howman said today that he couldn't see what all the fuss has been about on the issue because Waugh's stance had always been the same.

He, and Crowe, have said they will co-operate with officials but not before there is any substance to allegations made against them that they can respond to.

"Any sensible person would do the same and every lawyer in the world would suggest the same thing," Howman said.

If the players didn't adopt that stance they would be answering rumours for the rest of their lives, he said.

Howman said that as far as he was concerned New Zealand Cricket has appointed its own Commission of Inquiry into allegations against Crowe and they would be seeing if there was any substance to the allegations.

"If there were I would expect Martin, or myself, would have the opportunity of testing the information," Howman said.

At that stage he would expect to have the chance to ask questions.

Howman, who is in Melbourne this week, said he was surprised that Waugh had been criticised for his stance.

"What needs to be asked is, who, if anyone, has spoken to this fellow Gupta?" he asked.

When it was announced yesterday that Waugh would not meet with Condon and the anti-corruption unit on February 3 and 4, his lawyer made the point that Waugh had co-operated with the previous Australian Cricket Board and ICC inquiries and was continuing to co-operate with the latest inquiry.

"The ACB and the ICC have not provided Waugh with any evidence about the unsubstantiated allegations made by MG Gupta in the CBI report. He has already denied those allegations," Waugh's lawyer Raff Pisano said.