India, Pakistan deny seeking ban for scandal Aussies
AFP
31 December 1998
NEW DELHI, Dec 31 (AFP) - Sub-continent cricket chiefs denied Thursday
they would lobby for a ban on Australian duo of Mark Waugh and Shane
Warne for accepting money from bookies.
Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Khalid Mehmood attacked reports
quoting him as saying India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka would press the
game's governing body to ban Waugh and Warne.
``I never said such a thing,'' Mehmood said. ``It is a mischevious,
fabricated report designed to spoil the cricketing relations between
Australia and Pakistan.''
Indian cricket chief Raj Singh Dungarpur backed Mehmood's claim,
saying he was not aware of any move by the sub-continent to force the
International Cricket Council (ICC) to ban the two players.
``This thing about us lobbying for a ban is rubbish, it was never
discussed,'' Dungarpur said.
Mehmood was quoted as saying last week in Pakistan that the
sub-continent would jointly seek to have Waugh and Warne removed after
they admitted taking money from an Indian bookmaker for information on
pitch and weather conditions during a tour of Sri Lanka in 1994.
The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) reacted angrily to the report,
saying it would oppose any such moves since it was conducting it's own
inquiry into the matter.
The executive board of the ICC, which meets in Christchurch on January
10 and 11, will discuss the match-fixing and bribery scandal that has
taken the cricket world by storm.
Dungarpur, who will attend the meeting, said India would back moves by
the ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya to conduct an independent probe
into the scandal.
``The air needs to be cleared,'' he said. ``Cricket's image has suffered
badly in recent months and we can't afford it. It's just not cricket.''
Waugh and Warne have been asked to appear before a Pakistan judicial
commission in Melbourne on January 8 when they will be questioned
about their allegations that former Pakistani captain Salim Malik
offered them money to lose a match in 1994.
The Pakistani inquiry is expected to be completed by the end of
January, while a separate ACB probe which seeks to interview all
Australian cricketers since 1992, will begin work on January 12.
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