LAHORE, Pakistan, Dec 10 (AFP) - The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Thursday slammed the unethical conduct of Australian cricketers Shane Warne and Mark Waugh following their confessions that they took payments from an Indian bookmaker.

Khalid Mahmood said his board would take up the issue with the Australian Cricket Board as well as the International Cricket Council (ICC).

He said the confessions rendered dubious the allegations by the two Australians that Pakistan's Salim Malik offered them bribes in 1994.

Warne and Waugh on Wednesday admitted taking payments from an Indian bookmaker in return for information on pitch and weather conditions during Australia's tour of Sri Lanka in 1994 before the series in Pakistan.

They were fined by the Australian board in 1995 but the incident was only made public this week.

The ICC must realise the severity of the matter, Mahmood said, describing as unethical the conduct of the two Australians.

"It is a very, very serious matter and should be dealt with properly," he said.

The Pakistan board will raise the matter at the ICC executive board meeting in Christchurch, New Zealand, next month, he said.

Mahmood said the information about the confession and the subsequent fine appeared to have been shared by the Australian board with the ICC but not with other boards.

It was distressing that Pakistan did not receive the information despite the fact that one of its key players had been accused by the two Australians of wrongdoing.

Mahmood said the belated disclosure of the confession was unfair to Pakistan players and cricket.

But he found nothing wrong with the Australian Board supporting Warne and Waugh.

"I think every board should support its players until their crime is hard to forgive. That's what we have done in Pakistan. We have given every player a chance to prove his innocence," Mahmood said.