Bookmaker’s attempt to contact umpire Koertzen; ICC informed

Bacher said Koertzen’s immediate reaction on getting the call in his Singapore hotel room on the night before the game was to put the telephone down before establishing the identity of the caller.

Brian Basson, director of South African Umpiring, said the caller had told Koertzen he was a bookmaker and wished to meet the umpire before the match.

The incident had been reported to Dave Richards, chief executive of the International Cricket Council, said Bacher.

LONDON: Betting and match-fixing allegations surfaced in England with the Scotland Yard investigating an alleged one million pound sterling (approximately Rs 7.05 crore) plot to bribe England cricketers to lose a Test match against New Zealand last month.

Former England all-rounder Chris Lewis and New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming have been interviewed after claims that an Indian betting syndicate had tried to fix the 3rd Test at Old Trafford, the police said. The Test ended in a draw with New Zealand going on to win the series 2-1.

Lewis, according to media reports here, has claimed he was approached by an acquaintance known to him only as Patel and was asked to offer 300,000 pounds sterling (approximately Rs 2.12 crore) to former captain Alec Stewart and pace bowler Alan Mullaly to deliberately drop catches and bowl wides.

When Lewis refused to cooperate, the syndicate contacted Fleming. Both reported the matter to the authorities.

Lewis said: “It was a bribe, wrapped up as a business proposition,” according to a report in The Times today.

The New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has also confirmed that Fleming was offered money by an Asian betting syndicate during the Old Trafford Test, an AP report from Wellington said.

“Fleming was approached at the team hotel prior to the third Test,” NZC chief executive Christopher Doig today said. “A man offered him sums of money to become involved in an Asian betting syndicate,” he said.

“Fleming immediately rejected the offer and reported the matter to team manager John Graham, who advised NZC.”

“New Zealand Cricket forwarded a written report to the International Cricket Council and the matter is now the subject of a police investigation.”

“New Zealand cricket has put in place a protocol for all its contracted players which requires them to immediately report any incident which could possibly be construed as an approach from a betting syndicate.”

NZC said today it was asked by the ICC to keep quiet on the matter. Doig said his organisation would have liked to release details of the incident immediately. The story was broken on Sunday by English newspaper News of the World.

“We were asked by the ICC and the code of conduct commission to not inform anyone else so they could investigate the matter without it being widespread knowledge,” Doig said.

“Because we were able to give them detailed information about the approach, the ICC wanted to deal with the incident knowing that the information would not be passed on to anyone else.”