Miscellaneous

Pakistam team for Australia and NZ tour (23 Oct 95)

KARACHI, Pakistan (Oct 23, 1995 - 14:01 EDT) - Pakistani cricketers, who leave for Australia on Monday, start their tour in a swirl of controversy after the reinstatement of former test captain Salim Malik, cleared of bribery charges

23-Oct-1995
KARACHI, Pakistan (Oct 23, 1995 - 14:01 EDT) - Pakistani cricketers, who leave for Australia on Monday, start their tour in a swirl of controversy after the reinstatement of former test captain Salim Malik, cleared of bribery charges by a Pakistani judge.
Former Supreme Court judge Fakhruddin Ebrahim exonerated the Pakistani batsman at the weekend, saying the sworn accusations of three Australian players were "not worthy of credence."
Pakistan`s 17-man squad, under new captain Wasim Akram, will be aiming to restore their battered fortunes in the three-test tour of Australia and subsequent visit to New Zealand for a single test and four one-day internationals.
The tours are Pakistan`s last major overseas fixtures before the World Cup series they will co-host in February and March.
The Pakistanis are still smarting after going down at home to Sri Lanka, losing both the test and one-day series 1-2.
They also failed to make the final of a three-nation limited overs tournament in Sharjah, won by Sri Lanka who beat the West Indies on Friday.
Left-arm fast bowler Akram, replacing Ramiz Raja as captain, will be keen to erase memories of his last spell as skipper, which ended after one year in a players` revolt and his replacement by Malik in January 1994.
Malik, sacked as captain and dropped in March over the bribery allegations made by Tim May, Shane Warne and Mark Waugh, will join the tourists in Australia later in the week.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had appointed Ebrahim to investigate the allegations against Malik.
Spinners Warne and May and all-rounder Waugh had accused Malik in sworn statements submitted to the International Cricket Conference (ICC) through the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) of offering them $200,000 to $400,000 to "throw" test and one-day matches during the Australian tour of Pakistan in 1994.
Ebrahim said in a nine-page report released on Saturday the statements "were not worthy of credence and must be rejected as unfounded."
"The allegations made against Salim Malik cannot be believed and appear to have been concocted for reasons best known to the accusers," Ebrahim said.
He criticized the ACB for refusing to send the three Australians to Pakistan for cross-examination and suggesting he go to Australia to interview them instead.
"To my mind, with great respect, ACB`s response is not only inadequate, but also quite irresponsible," Ebrahim said.
"In these circumstance the untested sworn statements of the three Australian players, which are the only direct evidence, have to be rejected and the allegations contained therein therefore remain, at very least, unproved against Salim Malik."
"It is most significant, if not decisive, that none of the Australian players in their sworn statements say that they had reported the incident to either the team manager or the team coach or the ICC referee or the ACB," Ebrahim said.
Ebrahim also faulted what he described as the inaction of Australian coach Bob Simpson, whose report he said had failed to state who had reported two incidents in which Malik was alleged to have offered bribes or say when they were reported.
The PCB named Aamir Sohail as vice-captain for the Australian tour and appointed former captain Intikhab Alam to replace Mushtaq Mohammad as tour manager.
Squad: Wasim Akram (captain), Aamir Sohail, Salim Elahi, Saeed Anwar, Ramiz Raja, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Basit Ali, Salim Malik, Moin Khan, Rashid Latif, Mushtaq Ahmed, Saqlain Mushtaq, Waqar Younis, Mohammad Akram, Aamer Nazir, Aqib Javed, Ata-ur-Rehman.