Match
Fixing News
Pakistan's prospects may hinge on Commission's report
KARACHI: Troubled Pakistan's cricket fortunes in 1999 may hinge as much
on a judge's report as on performances. Reeling from successive home Test
series defeats by Australia and Zimbabwe, Pakistan face a significant period
that begins with Tests against India and reaches a peak with the World
Cup in England in May. PCB chief executive Majid Khan believes the team's
prospects are tied to a judicial inquiry into match-fixing and bribery
in Pakistani cricket. "The accusations were there for three or four years,"
Majid told Reuters on Saturday. "That is why the board asked the government
to set up the inquiry, so once and for all the subject can be put to rest
either way -- the players are exonerated or found guilty. "If the report
exonerates the players or otherwise, at least we can start afresh," he
said.
Players and officials said those results stemmed partly from distractions
caused by allegations and counter-allegations of match-fixing and bribery
involving some of the biggest names in the game in Pakistan, such as former
captain Salim Malik.
"I'm sure it is one of the factors that helped the poor performance,"
said Majid, the former Pakistan captain who scored nearly 4,000 runs in
63 Tests between 1964 and 1982. The unsettled situation also caused a change
of captain in 1998 and could delay the selection of the captain -- due
to be named on Sunday -- for the tour of India, the first time the sides
have met at Test level for 10 years. "It will be a tough decision, it might
be a decision which will be postponed," Majid said, adding it may be impractical
to pick a captain before the judicial report is delivered. The report to
be made to Pakistan's president will include recommendations on what action,
if any, should be taken against players suspected of involvement in
match-fixing. It was to have been delivered last month but was delayed
after Mark Waugh and Shane Warne, who with fellow Australian Tim May had
accused Malik of offering them bribes to play poorly during a 1994 tour
of Pakistan, admitted to taking money from an Indian bookmaker for providing
pitch and weather conditions during a tournament in Sri Lanka in 1994.
Waugh, who Testified before the inquiry last October when Australia
toured Pakistan, and Warne have been called to testify before a hearing
of the inquiry to be held in Australia on Jan 8. Malik has denied the allegations
and said admissions by Waugh, Warne prove his innocence. PCB legal adviser
Ali Sibtain Fazli said the report was now not expected until after January
16, when several of the accused players have been called to Testify. "If
any of the players are involved, then who needs them, but if not they are
still heros," Fazli said. Pakistan have been without a regular captain
since Aamer Sohail, who lost both the Australia and Zimbabwe series, pulled
out of the last two Tests, saying he was sick. Wicketkeeper Moin Khan led
the side on an interim basis, but the final two Tests were abandoned as
draws because of fog.
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