ACB washes its hands of Mallett's allegations

SYDNEY, MAY 24. The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) said on Wednesday the latest match-fixing allegations surrounding the South African tour of Australia in 1997-98 were for South Africa to deal with, not the ACB.

Former Australian Test off-spinner Ashley Mallett, who acted as an adviser to the South Africans during the tour, has told South African cricket authorities of his concerns about their team's performance in the Sydney Test during that tour.

``I think Ashley Mallett's claims don't actually concern the Australian team,'' ACB spokesman Brian Murgatroyd said.

``It concerns the South Africans. We'll review it and if there's anything we need to investigate, we will.'' Australia won the Test by an innings and 21 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three- match series.

Mallett said he became increasingly concerned over what he believed were questionable team selections, and by the tactics employed by captain Hansie Cronje during the match.

``At the time I sensed that something was wrong,'' Mallett said in The Age newspaper on Wednesday.

``In light of the recent revelations, a lot of little things began to add up.'' South African cricket is already reeling over last month's admission by Cronje that he took money from an Indian bookmaker in return for providing information about a limited-overs international series earlier this year.

A spokeswoman for South African cricket chief Ali Bacher said he would not be taking the matter further.

Meanwhile, the International Cricket Council is to investigate claims from the British newspaper News Of The World last weekend that former Pakistan captain Salim Malik boasted that he could fix any match and that Australia and Pakistan had taken bribes to lose the same game during Australia's tour of Pakistan in 1994.

The ACB said on Monday it would investigate the allegations by Malik. Shane Warne, Mark Waugh and Tim May had already alleged that Malik offered them money to bowl badly in a match during the 1994 tour.Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh called on Wednesday for anyone making allegations of match-fixing and bribery to provide concrete proof or keep quiet. He was responding to claims made by former Australian Test spinner Ashley Mallett, that the Test match played between South Africa in Australia in Sydney in 1998 may have been fixed by the South Africans.

``I was quite astounded by these allegations but if he (Mallett) has got evidence to suggest otherwise he should bring it forward. If not, he shouldn't be making those comments,'' Waugh said.

Waugh refuted Mallett's claims. ``If that was cricket that wasn't played at 100 per cent, then I'm a real bad judge,'' he said. ``I know after that game I had sore ribs, a sore wrist and sore legs from the battering that Allan Donald gave me.''

The match was Waugh's 100th Test, with the middle order batsman scoring 85 in Australia's first innings total of 421. Shane Warne took his 300th wicket in the match as the Australians eventually routed South Africa by an innings and 21 runs. Despite South Africa's sudden collapse, Waugh believed the latest allegation was ill-founded. ``Let's get the concrete proof and then we can make some comments. Till then I think people should keep quiet.''

Waugh also scotched allegations attributed to former Pakistan captain Salim Malik that Australia and Pakistan both took bribes to lose a match in 1994. Malik did not reveal which match was allegedly fixed but it was Australia's unexpected victory in the first game of the Singer Cup in Sri Lanka that most raised eyebrows.

``Salim said he was innocent of all charges a couple of years ago and if he's found guilty of recent charges then I don't think his word is something you can hang on to,'' Waugh said. ``All I can say is that I'm as certain as I can be that no Australian has ever been involved in match-fixing or bribery. I've said it before and I'll stick by it.''

- Reuters/AFP

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Unbeaten century by Prashanth
Next     : I'm hopeful about the boys: Akhmedov