Is ECB up to a cover-up operation?

By Ted Corbett

LONDON, APRIL 20. It now appears unlikely, to say the least, that any England cricketer has received money from a bookmaker to throw a match. I say that even though I have had to warn many people in the game in the past few days that after the shocks of Cronjegate one should be most careful in rejecting any idea on this appalling scandal.

There is no doubt, however, that Chris Lewis, an intense, born- again Christian with a background of three different county clubs - four if you count Leicestershire, his first and last club twice - and some odd bits of public behaviour will soon be regarded as a hero rather than a villain, his current role.

If you add together the various statements and listen intently to the grind of the rumour mills, it is clear that he has acted with the best intentions throughout the last eight months. Last August he was approached, he says, by Ashim Keterpal, an Indian businessman in a north London newsagent's shop, and offered œ300,000 to fix the result of the fourth Test against New Zealand. He went straight to the England and Wales Cricket Board.

ECB's operations director Simon Pack interviewed him but - and here the story becomes vague - declined to hear the names of the three players Kheterpal said had already received money. Lewis says his evidence was described as ``hearsay''; Pack says he was not given the names. The police took note of the names but - and here there is another grey area - nothing has happened since. Was that the result of an ECB cover-up or did the police find no evidence? It is time that was made clear.

It looks as if Lewis was told this delicious piece of gossip to encourage him to accept money and thereby become inextricably mixed up with the gang of bookies and that no England cricketer has ever been paid. But, post-Cronje, it is possible to be completely wrong. Sadly.

When the Hansie Cronje sacking happened Lewis returned to the News of the World - which had broken the story last October - and added the touch about three England players being involved. He declined to give their names but the story was still worth either œ30,000 if you believe the rumours around Press Boxes or œ10,000 to œ15,000, according to better informed sources.

Lewis is, according to a friend of his, greatly upset by the whole business, although when he appeared on TV last night to say he resented the lack of action by ECB, he was his usual immaculate self in an expensive suit, with a perfectly knotted tie and groomed from the top of his shaven head to his expensively clad feet.

At 6ft 4in and with a body that owes its shape to hours in the gym, Lewis is an impressive sight. It is just that he has not always made a lot of sense. He has been advised - and may turn the thought into action - to give his News of the World pay-out to charity. He will win many friends if he does, since the most cynical of his cricketing colleagues think money is his only motive.

There is not much doubt that Lewis, who was brought to this country as a youngster - there has always been a doubt about his age, now given as 32 - and first played for England at 22, enjoys the fruits of his talent as a quickish bowler, big stroke player and one of the most talented fielders this country has known.

He owns a house in Windsor, a Royal town far from his present club Leicestershire, and a Mercedes sports car; and he has been one of the consistently high earners since he went from Leicestershire to Notts under a special sponsorship arrangement. He went on to Surrey for a larger fee and back to Leicester where he was briefly captain.

Now he may have brought into the open a problem which the ECB has declined to face. It has promised to investigate his accusations that it did not look into his claims properly and no doubt the knives will be out for anyone who has gone for the cover-up option when the police reported their findings.

On the other hand one has to wonder if concealing the cover-up will be allowed to proceed. ECB tried it when it sacked a girl who had become pregnant and was given money in a brown envelope for an abortion. That payment and the costs of the subsequent court case still rankle with the county clubs which have been remarkably silent about the Lewis case.

Perhaps they are as stunned as the rest of us; but their chairmen are not notorious for staying quiet and no doubt they will be raising the alarm long before the Lewis story comes to an end.

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