Cricket Australia (CA) chief James Sutherland yesterday said allegations made in a London court implicating Australia team players in match-fixing were baseless claims made by a person of “dubious repute.”
The details emerged as Mazher Mahmood, the former investigations editor for Rupert Murdoch’s now-defunct News of the World, gave evidence at the trial of former Pakistan cricket captain Salman Butt and bowler Mohammad Asif.
In recordings played to Southwark Crown Court, an agent, Mazhar Majeed, alleged that Australia players, as well as some of the biggest names in the game in Pakistan, were prepared to fix parts of matches.
Sutherland said he had serious doubts over Majeed’s integrity.
“These comments or allegations would appear to be outlandish and were made by a person of dubious repute,” he said at a press conference. “These would appear to be baseless allegations.”
During the trial, a video secretly filmed in a car was played showing the agent and Mahmood — posing as a frontman for an Indian gambling syndicate — meeting during the first day of Pakistan’s Test against England on Aug. 18 last year.
In it, Majeed said he would give the journalist proof of his influence by arranging for two no-balls to be bowled, for a fee of £10,000 (US$15,600) each, then said a “deposit” of £150,000 was required for further activity.
Prosecutors allege Butt and Asif agreed for no-balls to be bowled as part of a spot-fixing scam. They have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, and conspiracy to cheat at gambling.
Majeed also alleged that Australia players would fix “brackets,” a set period of a match on which punters bet.
“The Australians, they are the biggest. They have 10 brackets a game,” he said.
Arranging a “bracket” could cost between £50,000 and £80,000, he said.
“For a result, Twenty20 is about £400,000 and Test matches, depending on the situation, is about £1 million,” he added.
Sutherland said Australia players had been “unfairly maligned” by the claims.
“I think the sweeping statement unfairly maligns Australian cricketers,” he said, adding that Cricket Australia had long taken an emphatic stand against corruption. “CA has a very strong view about corruption and that is that there is no place for it in our sport.”
The Cricket Australia boss said that he would contact the International Cricket Council (ICC) about the allegations and would investigate if there was “one skerrick of credible evidence.”
He said he was aware of none.
“The ICC attend every single international cricket match with their corruption unit and there is nothing I have heard to suggest that there are Australian players who are of interest to them,” Sutherland said. “If there is any issue or there is any concern, we will investigate them. If we charge players and we find them guilty, we will have no qualms about issuing a life sentence on players who are found guilty of match-fixing, but in my dealings with the ICC, I’m very confident that I would know and understand if there were concerns about Australian players. I have heard none of that.”
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