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Waugh on corruption Steve backs clean-up; Mark faces police questioning
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- His twin brother still a target for match-fixing investigators, Australia's skipper Steve Waugh on Monday praised the International Cricket Council's moves to crack down on cricket corruption. "The game has got to be cleaned up, there's been a lot of things that have happened over the past few years and something positive is being done about it," Waugh said during a meeting in Melbourne of eight of cricket's 10 test captains. Waugh was joined at the annual captains' conference by the skippers of the West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and New Zealand national teams. The captains of England and India did not attend. The captains' conference followed a series of meetings and briefings in Melbourne by top cricket officials, including ICC anti-corruption chief Sir Paul Condon. Since former South African captain Hansie Cronje last year admitted receiving money from an illegal Indian bookmaker, players from eight nations have been accused of having accepted money in a scandal that has rocked the sport. "It's not going to be solved overnight," Waugh told reporters. "It's going to be a process that's going to take a while, but we've got fully professional people looking after what's going on and I'm sure that in the long run it's going to be better for the game. "It's not really a matter of how long it takes, it's whether they can do the job fully ... they've got all intentions of doing that and they're on the right track." The Australian cricket team was scheduled to fly out Tuesday on a tour of India. The team includes Steve Waugh's brother, Mark, who Saturday was questioned by Australian Cricket Board investigators over allegations that he received money from an illegal Indian bookmaker. The top-order batsman has already admitted taking money from a bookmaker in exchange for pitch and weather information in 1994 but has repeatedly denied the latest allegations. Australian media reported Monday that Mark Waugh could face questioning by Indian police, who are conducting an ongoing criminal investigation into cricket match-fixing, when he arrives in India to start the tour. Steve Waugh said his brother would obviously be apprehensive about traveling to India after reading the reports. "But he would have spoken to his lawyers and the cricket board and I'm sure they'll sort something out before he goes, so he knows exactly what's going to happen and what will confront him over there, to put his mind at ease," he said. The group of captains also discussed the growing salary gap between players from leading nations like Australia and those from struggling minnows like Zimbabwe. West Indies captain Jimmy Adams said on the eve of the meeting that he was concerned a lack of reasonable payments to players in some countries provided an opening for outside influences. West Indian allegations "old and unsubstantiated" Allegations that four West Indian cricketers were involved in match-fixing were old and unsubstantiated, the International Cricket Council said Monday. Sir Paul Condon, the ICC's anti-corruption unit chief, said cricket corruption allegations that emerged on the weekend in the British press did not relate to any matches in Australia this summer. Condon, who was in Australia for ICC meetings in Melbourne, said claims of a "stack of fresh allegations," published by the Observer newspaper of London, related to matches in the 1980s and the story unfairly tarnished the current West Indies touring side. The report "contained no new information and is a repackaging of unsubstantiated allegations", Condon said in a statement. "We will vigorously pursue any information about the full range of matters we are investigating. But we will be equally vigorous in dealing with recycled speculation." The newspaper said the allegations, including names and alleged payments, were revealed in a 13-page document it had submitted to the ICC. The West Indies touring squad was scheduled to depart Australia later Monday, completing a three-month tour that included a 5-0 test series loss and a limited-overs series loss to Australia.
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