Waugh issues denial over match-fixing allegations (20 October 1998)

20 October 1998

Waugh issues denial over match-fixing allegations

By Peter Deeley in Peshawar

MARK WAUGH yesterday became the second Australian in a matter of days to have accusations of involvement in cricket betting and match-fixing levelled against him.

Dean Jones, the former Test batsman, denied similar allegations last week in Sydney. In his hotel room, a few hours before going out to bat in the second Pakistan Test here, Waugh was equally adamant. "I have never bet on a cricket match in my life nor have I ever been involved in fixing a match," he said.

Both Australians are named in a letter sent to the Pakistan Cricket Board. The board's lawyer, Ali Sibtain Fazli, who is assisting the judicial commission considering similar complaints against three Pakistan players, refused to give the source of the letter.

In Australia, the allegations have been dismissed as "spurious" and Steve Bernard, manager of the Australian team here, said he found it hard to believe that such a leading player should have his name associated with the claims.

Waugh's taste for gambling is well known in cricket circles at home and in England - but only as a man who loves a flutter on the horses. There has never been any suggestion that his betting has spilled over into cricket.

Waugh, who gave evidence in camera to the commission about his allegation that Salim Malik approached him in 1994 in Pakistan to fix a one-day international, has admitted finding those matters difficult to put from his mind on this tour.

He has not been in good form and was out for 43 yesterday, edging on to his stumps, to give him only 85 runs in three Test innings.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)