A bomb from Ali Bacher -- Two World Cup matches were fixed

A bomb from Ali Bacher -- Two World Cup matches were fixed
AGENCIES

SYDNEY, APRIL 20: South African cricket Chief Ali Bacher has claimed two matches at last year's World Cup were fixed, one international team was throwing and manipulating matches and an umpire was under suspicion.

Bacher told Australian newspapers on Thursday from his home in Johannesburg that his information came from current and former international players and administrators.

``I am as confident as I can be without having all available evidence for you that it has been a common practice in world cricket,'' Bacher told three Sydney newspapers.

Bacher has indicated he is willing to take what information he has to an International Cricket Council (ICC) emergency meeting in London on May 2-3 and to make public the information and names of his informants during a judicial commission of inquiry into match-fixing in South Africa.

Bacher, Chief executive of the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA), agreed the the World Cup match between Bangladesh and Pakistan when Pakistan were bowled out for 161 while chasing 223 raised the most concern. The top five Pakistani batsmen all failed to reach double figures.

Pakistani umpire Javed Akhtar was also under suspicion for the way he handled South Africa's 1998 tour of England when he gave nine lbws in the last Test.

Bacher indicated Pakistan were suspected of throwing matches.

Bacher he said several former international players had told him that matches had been manipulated.

``All I will say is that during my international travels in the past few years, several former international players of integrity have told me they are aware of international matches that have been fixed,'' Bacher said.

``If you add this to the revelations now emerging in South Africa, I am as confident as one can be that match-fixing or match manipulation has taken place in world cricket.''

Bacher's statements follow the sacking of South African skipper Hansie Cronje after he admitted taking money from a bookmaker last January. Cronje and three team mates have also been accused by Indian police of match-fixing during a One-day series between India and South Africa in March. They have denied the accusations.

``I don't have bank accounts or anything like that to prove it, but match-fixing has been the scourge of the game,'' he said. ``As this latest crisis in South Africa has shown, it is a global problem. No one country can point the finger at anyone else,'' he added.

Bacher's claims support the allegations made by former Indian cricket board chief IS Bindra in Delhi on Wednesday. ``Virtually every match in international cricket is fixed in one form or another,'' Bindra told a press conference in Delhi.

Waugh seeks action

BARRACKPORE: Australian captain Steve Waugh urged cricket authorities on Thursday to take some hard decisions to tackle the match-fixing scandal.

``It is not something which is happening in the past four months. It has been going on for a little while now. The concerned authorities will have to make some hard decisions to stem the rot,'' Waugh told reporters.

Waugh arrived in Calcutta on Wednesday to raise funds for a lepers' home and inaugurate its girl's wing at Barrackpore, 50 km north of the city.

Waugh said it would be difficult to prove the allegations in the match fixing scandal. ``It is hard to clean up the mess. It is difficult to prove unless you have some concrete evidence.''

Waugh's twin brother Mark and another team-mate Shane Warne were also embroiled in a betting scandal when both admitted to taking money from an illegal Indian bookmaker in return for information on pitch and weather conditions. Steve Waugh said they had not committed a major offence.

``What Shane and Mark did was merely providing information on the wicket and weather, which all commentators do on television. But yes, I agree they did a wrong thing. What I say is they did not commit a major offence.''