According to a leaked report, three Pakistani players -- Salim Malik, Wasim Akram and Ijaz Ahmed -- were found guilty of match-fixing by a Pakistan inquiry.

The inquiry followed an allegation made by May, now chief executive of the Australian Cricketers Association, and Shane Warne four years ago that Salim Malik had offered them $250,000 bribe to bowl badly on the last day of the first Test in Karachi.

May told Channel Nine TV today: ``I think people would be pretty naive if they just thought Pakistan were the only side that were involved in this.''

``Certainly there have been reports that have come out of India and I think some former Indian players have alluded to the fact that perhaps it does occur in other sides.''

``I know there was a report in an Indianpaper that, from a person who allegedly should know about these things, who said Australia and England were the only sides that basically couldn't be bought,'' he told Channel Nine.

Feeling vindicated, especially since in 1995 an internal Pakistan inquiry rejected the allegations describing them as ``concocted'', May said, ``We've got the game of cricket at the top of our interest and it's sad to think that the extent of match-fixing or whatever as reported today in the paper is present in the game.''

``Time is always the best test of truth and four years down the track, I think, plenty of people will be sitting around and saying they didn't concoct that.''

``So, perhaps things should have been addressed a hell of a lot better back in 1994 and we wouldn't be in this position we are today,'' he added.

May said the findings should have no effect on Australia's cricket tour of Pakistan coming up in a fortnight's time, saying ``I don't think it affects that one way or another.''

``I imagine thePakistan Cricket Board, they'll select a side they want to have out on the field. We'll just basically put the Pakistan internal inquiry aside and just play cricket against them.''

Earlier, he had said there was no place for bribery in sport but the corruption would have to be dealt with locally.

``I think at the end of the day, that's up to the Pakistani authorities, they've got to deal with it in the way they deem fit,'' the ABC Radio quoted May as saying.

``They've got a different culture over there than we've got over here. We're into fines or bans and I think sometimes, over there in Islamic countries, they're into cutting things off -- I think it's best left in their hands.''

Besides players, Australian media and cricket commentators too have also called for rooting out of corruption from the sport once described as gentlemen's game.

``The guilty must be rooted out. Those with honour intact must be protected,'' wrote Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald today.

``Scandalsoccur in every sport. The merit of a sport is not determined by the scandals that befall it but by its reaction to them.''

He said it was a pity action was not taken immediately and partly blamed Australians for it.

``Senior players were prepared to say their piece under oath but were not willing to go to Karachi to appear before a respected judicial officer. They thought it was too dangerous.''

A few months later, the entire team appeared in a World Cup final in the same country, Roebuck pointed out.

The Melbourne Age newspaper said May had called for the International Cricket Council to step in.

``However, indications last night were that ICC would again sit on its hands,'' the paper said.

Reuters adds: The Australian Cricket Board reacted cautiously today to a report naming three leading Pakistan Test players as suspects in a match-fixing probe.

ACB chief executive Malcolm Speed said he would not comment on the matter until he had received official word fromPakistan.

``Essentially, it is an internal matter for the Pakistan Cricket Board. The Australian Cricket Board has nothing to add,'' Speed said.

``We are waiting until we receive the formal advice of the Pakistan Cricket Board and the International Cricket Council regarding the inquiry outcomes and any proposed courses of action.''

Warne, who is recovering from shoulder surgery, and Mark Waugh who is representing Australia at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, said they had been ordered not to comment on the matter.

But May, who once threatened to take legal action after a judge investigating the case accused the three Australians of concocting the charges, said the findings vindicated their original statements.

``In my own personal way, there is a genuine sense of relief that perhaps people are becoming more aware of a problem, the finding that there was not evidence to suggest it but now it seems there is the evidence to take this thing further.''

Akram denies match-fixingallegations

KARACHI: Pakistan cricket star Wasim Akram today denied renewed match-fixing and bribery allegations and termed it a ``conspiracy'' against him and country's cricket.

The 32-year-old paceman has featured prominetly in match-fixing scandals haunting Pakistan cricket since 1994. He was stripped of captaincy in January but has turned down offers to lead Pakistan again.