Publications
Partners
Melbourne - Australian cricket great Shane Warne has called for life bans to be imposed on players found guilty of fixing or conspiring to manipulate matches.
"If it is true and they have been found (guilty of) match fixing and throwing games and spot betting with the no-balls and stuff, if that's the case they should be thrown out," Warne told reporters on Thursday. "It's as simple as that. I don't think there should be any other way to do it.
"If it's fixed by players, they should be banned for life. Anyone who's involved should be thrown out."
Warne spoke as Pakistan captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif met in London with Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt and Pakistan's High Commissioner to Britain Wajid Shamshul Hasan to address spot fixing allegations.
The trio were implicated after an investigation by the News of the World newspaper exposed an alleged middle man who reportedly, for payment of 150 000 pounds ($230 000), provided information on when Asif and Amir would bowl no balls in last week's test match against England at Lord's.
Spot betting allows gamblers to bet on options such as when no balls will be bowled. The middle man's reported predictions were correct.
Warne and Australia teammate Mark Waugh were fined in 1995 for taking money from an Indian bookmaker in exchange for information on pitch and weather conditions during a tour to Sri Lanka. That episode did not become public for years until a newspaper exposed it.
Cricket has a history of corruption involving some high-profile players, including the revelations of match fixing involving former South Africa captain Hansie Cronje which led to his life ban. Cronje died later in a plane crash.
The International Cricket Council set up an anti-corruption and security unit to deal with the problem after players from South Africa, India and Pakistan were caught out in the previous scandal.
But leading commentators have questioned the strength of the ICC to combat the problem.
Warne joined other leading Australian cricketers in expressing doubt about the circumstances in which Australia won last January's test at Sydney against Pakistan.
"They are only allegations at the moment so I suppose you have to say innocent until proven guilty," he said. "But looking back at the (Sydney) test match, if it was fixed you could understand how it was fixed by the way they were captaining the side and their tactics.
"It would make sense if it was true."
