Bacher claims match fixing is 'common practice' but denies naming teams

Dr Ali Bacher, Managing Director of the UCBSA, today denied reports in Australian newspapers that alleged he claimed matches at last year's World Cup were fixed. He did confirm that two ex-players had mentioned their concerns about certain World Cup games to him and that he believed match fixing to be a common practice in world cricket.

The reports, carried in several Australian newspapers alleged that Bacher believed two of the 1999 World Cup matches were fixed, that an international umpire had been involved with bookmakers, and that at least one international team was throwing and manipulating matches.

Reports in Australian newspapers linked Dr. Bacher's apparent claims to Bangladesh's defeat of Pakistan in a World Cup match, to a string of decisions made by Pakistani umpire Javed Ahktar during South Africa's 1998 tour of England, and to the involvement of Pakistan teams in the throwing of matches.

In a World Cup group match Pakistan were bowled out for 161 by Bangladesh while chasing 223 and the top five Pakistani batsmen all failed to reach double figures. The previous summer Pakistani umpire Javed Akhtar awarded nine lbws in the last Test of South Africa's 1998 tour of England.

Bacher was reported as saying to three Sydney newspapers: "I am as confident as I can be without having all available evidence for you that it has been a common practice in world cricket". He also commented, "I don't have bank accounts or anything like that to prove it, but match-fixing has been the scourge of the game...as this latest crisis in South Africa has shown, it is a global problem. No one country can point the finger at anyone else".