Waugh remark alerted officials (21 December 1998)

21 December 1998

Waugh remark alerted officials

By Christopher Martin-Jenkins in Hobart

A DRESSING-room remark made in jest by Mark Waugh was the first time Australian officials heard of bribes being offered in Pakistan, according to an article in the Melbourne Age.

Colin Egar and Bobby Simpson, manager and coach of the Australian team in Pakistan in 1994, overheard a reference to bribes and began asking questions. The report contradicts the recollection of the former Australian Cricket Board chairman, Alan Crompton, in his statement two weeks ago, that the players made a voluntary approach.

In an unpublished interview with a magazine, Inside Sport, last September, the former Test off-spinner, Tim May, told a reporter that he had been sharing a room with Warne in Karachi when the phone rang late on the evening of the last day of the first Test. One of the Pakistan players asked to talk to the two spinners. May was dozing so Warne went, returning white-faced to the room a little later to announce: "They've just offered us US$200,000 to basically bowl badly tomorrow. I told them to piss off."

By coincidence, May ricked his neck overnight and was unable to bowl effectively the next day. Pakistan won the match by one wicket, Warne taking five wickets and May none.

A "certain Pakistani player" later got the same negative reaction at an official function on the eve of a one-day international when, according to May, he offered himself, Warne and the Waugh twins $50,000 each "if you put in a stinker". In the event Mark Waugh made a big century and Australia a large score but Pakistan knocked off the runs with amazing ease. Going back into the dressing-room Mark Waugh joked, according to May's account: "Ah, would have been better off taking the bribes, guys."

The manager and the coach were there and asked what they were talking about. According to May "there was an investigation and let's just say the players involved in that particular thing felt very let down by the administrators at the time . . . The ACB said, 'Don't say anything, don't say anything, whatever you do don't say anything'."

May is now secretary of the Australian Players' Association.

Pakistan captain Aamir Sohail finally gave evidence to the judicial inquiry investigating allegations of bribery and match-fixing on Saturday, after twice post poning appearances on medical grounds. Sohail recorded a statement in camera in Karachi.

On his earlier appearance in October, he made a statement in open court in which he had said that whenever he heard about suggestions of match-fixing he brought it to the notice of the Pakistan Board.

Wasim Akram, the former captain, has sought permission to cross-examine the witnesses who have made allegations against him before the commission.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)