April 11, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 4, 1429

KARACHI, April 10: Banned Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has diluted his match-fixing allegations by telling ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) that he did not inform about it because the incident happened much before ACSU was established.

After being handed a five-year ban by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for breach of Code of Conduct, Shoaib had told a television channel that he was approached by bookies to under-perform in matches in South Africa and India.

In the television show, the maverick pacer had mentioned that in 2003 a person came to his room with money but he drove him away as he could not betray his team.

The ACSU official Alan Peacock met Shoaib last week on this matter but sources privy to the meeting confirmed that the speedster played safe by shifting the year of the incidents from 2003 to 1998 and 1999. “He told Peacock that offers were made to him in 1998 and 1999 and he didn’t report it because the ICC had not set up its anti-corruption unit by then. The unit was established in 2000 after the match-fixing scandal hit world cricket with the banning of several top players for their involvement in the menace,” the source said.

”Shoaib said the offers came in 1998 and 1999 when he toured South Africa and India respectively,” he added.

When Peacock reminded him that he had talked about an offer in 2003, Shoaib said since he was upset with the ban, he could have got his dates and facts wrong.

The ICC Code of Conduct states that any player who fails to report any approach to fix matches to his captain, team manager, board or ACSU is liable to be banned for one to five years.

Meanwhile, former Pakistan Test cricketer Sarfraz Nawaz said on Friday that cricket authorities were powerless to stop match-fixing in the Indian private leagues.

Banned Pakistan paceman Shoaib Akhtar last week triggered a new controversy by claiming in a TV interview that he was offered money to underperform in South Africa in 2003 and in India.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) quizzed Shoaib and three other Pakistani players – Younis Khan, Danish Kaneria and Umar Gul – last week.

Sarfraz said the ICC was not serious about stopping match-fixing.

“I have given a lot of information on fixing to the ICC but they are not serious in stopping the rot. Now, through the various private leagues which offer millions of dollars, this menace will boom,” said Sarfraz.

He added that the ICC-recognised multi-billion dollar Indian Premier League (IPL), which starts on April 18, should be monitored.

“Millions of dollars are spent on this league, and I see an open field for bookmakers to fix matches and the players will be approached to lose matches.

There should be some serious monitoring on that,” he added.

The former paceman – nicknamed the ‘Sultan of Swing’ – said the ICC had double standards in recognising the IPL and ruling a rival faction, the Indian Cricket League (ICL), unauthorised.

“I think cricket boards are getting big money and that is why they have allowed their players to feature in the IPL and have banned the players who joined the other league,” he stated.

—Agencies