SYDNEY, NOVEMBER 9: Cricket's administrators have escaped the mud-slinging in the match-fixing scandal and should be made more accountable, former Australian captain Ian Chappell says. ``The most unfair thing in this whole sordid affair is that the administrators, despite their ineptitude, continue to escape the mud-slinging,'' he said in a column for the weekly Bulletin magazine.``There is ample evidence that some cricket officials and ICC (International Cricket Council) administrators have known from at least as far back as 1994 that there was something fishy going on and it wasn't the smell coming from the seafood market.''He singled out the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) for its handling of the Mark Waugh-Shane Warne saga.The Australian Test pair were fined a total of A$ 18,000dollars (11,000 US) by the ACB for taking money from bookmakers in Sri Lanka in 1994 in exchange for what they said was information on weather and pitch conditions.The story remained secret until 1998. ``The ACB engaged in a cover-up operation from the outset and this continued for four years until they were caught red-handed,'' he said.``Even when the cover-up was exposed, the ACB still didn't insist on a full and frank disclosure and the players weren't subjected to a question-and-answer session with the media.'' ``If the CBI further embarrasses the ACB it will be hard to have any sympathy because while the ACB, through its appointed selectors, may omit players who continue to make the same mistakes, the officials aren't subject to the same scrutiny.''Chappell suggested Sir Paul Condon, the former London Chief of Police heading ICC's investigation, should be involved.
