Wasim tells judge about 'wild' claims (9 October 1998)
PAKISTAN cricket came face to face in a overcrowded courtroom yesterday with what a witness described as "the poison that is sweeping the game" - greed, jealousy and corruption
09-Oct-1998
9 October 1998
Wasim tells judge about 'wild' claims
Peter Deeley
Peter Deeley hears testimony from top Pakistan players in a
Lahore courtroom
PAKISTAN cricket came face to face in a overcrowded courtroom
yesterday with what a witness described as "the poison that is
sweeping the game" - greed, jealousy and corruption.
It was the day when present and former Test captains Aamir Sohail
and Wasim Akram testified to the judicial commission
investigating allegations of bribery and match-rigging, and it
seemed half this city wanted to be present in a room not much
bigger than a cricket square.
Almost lost in the scrum of lawyers, journalists, court officials
- even onlookers who wandered in off the street - the players
stood before the raised dias on which sat Judge Malik Mohammad
Qayyum, an admitted cricket lover.
He treated both reverentially: they were not just players but
"national assets". The judge told Aamir that because he was
captain and in the middle of a Test series against Australia, he
was being deliberately careful in his questions to avoid
upsetting other team members.
At the end of Aamir's testimony, the judge told him: "Now go and
practise [before the second Test] but I am not sure what benefit
it will do you."
Judge Qayyum told Wasim: "You are a legend in your own time but .
. . " and went on to question him about an injury before the 1996
World Cup quarter-final in Bangalore. Wasim, who was captain,
missed that game and there have been allegations of heavy betting
on the match - won by India.
Wasim said it was unbelievable any Pakistani could imagine him
being involved in match-fixing in a match of such national
significance.
He said there had been talk of Pakistan throwing the one-day
series in England in 1996 "but, in fact, we just got beaten by
the better team".
He admitted living next door in Lahore to a bookmaker named Jo-Jo
but said they were only "social acquaintances". All betting is
illegal under Islamic law and the judge wanted Jo-Jo brought
before him, only to be told he had fled the country.
The judge asked Wasim: "You appear to be very unpopular among
your team-mates. Why?" Wasim replied in Urdhu, but then in
English launched an attack on Majid Khan, chief executive of the
home board.
"Majid's attitude to me has always been antagonistic. On no
occasion has he ever appreciated me or congratulated me - even
when we won the series against England and the West Indies.
"The board have never helped me respond to these wild allegations
and I have been left on my own. What am I and my family going
through? That doesn't seem to matter."
But the judge told him reassuringly that he regarded his case as
"very different to that of Salim Malik".
Aamir told of various tours when players had been made to swear
on the Koran because The Management heard rumours of
match-fixing: Sharjah and Sri Lanka in 1994, South Africa and
Zimbabwe in 1994-95.
"I have no personal knowledge of match-fixing or betting but we
were being constantly told by the others [team members] and the
management that some of the players were involved. Some bookies
had also told us."
Aamir said that when the team found Wasim pulled out of the India
World Cup game, "the morale fell. The atmosphere was as if we had
already lost the match."
Former board chairman of selectors Zafar Altaf pinpointed the
Packer cricket revolution in the late 1970s as "the first time
players sold themselves for dollars rather than national pride".
Zafar suggested that to look into that period "would be like
digging a grave: there are only maggots left".
He named former Pakistan player Asif Iqbal as the man "who began
match-fixing". Judge Qayyum said "such allegations are
well-reasoned" and observed that Asif was hardly likely to come
and give evidence since he was now in Sharjah.
At the end of the day the judge heard evidence privately in his
chambers from former fast bowler Ata-ur-Rehman, who had first
accused Wasim in an affidavit of offering him a bribe to bowl
badly in a one-day international in New Zealand, then later
withdrew the allegation.
Judge Qayyum had threatened Rehman with jail but after hearing
him again would only comment that "he is not going to prison -
not yet". A relieved Rehman left with a convoy of armed escorts.
Salim, along with his brother-in-law Ijaz Ahmed and Wasim, are
the central characters in the allegations and next week the
greatest of all Pakistan cricketing icons, Imran Khan, is due to
testify.
Unless Imran produces the 'smoking gun', this inquiry seems
likely to founder.
In Melbourne, Australian Cricket Board chief executive Mal Speed
urged for the International Cricket Council to be given more
power to prevent future scandals dragging on like the Pakistan
match-fixing affair.
Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)