Ponting reveals bookie offer (17 December 1998)
RICKY PONTING, known as 'Punter' because of his fondness for a gamble, told the Australian Cricket Board before the Adelaide Test that he, too, had been approached and offered money by a bookmaker for information on pitch and weather conditions
17-Dec-1998
17 December 1998
Ponting reveals bookie offer
By Chistopher Martin-Jenkins
RICKY PONTING, known as 'Punter' because of his fondness for a
gamble, told the Australian Cricket Board before the Adelaide
Test that he, too, had been approached and offered money by a
bookmaker for information on pitch and weather conditions. The
difference was, however, that the bookie came from Sydney.
Ponting told the Australian manager, Steve Barnard, that he was
at a greyhound meeting in Sydney a year ago when a bookmaker
offered him an undisclosed sum for giving information about
conditions for an imminent one-day international. Ponting refused
him but felt it wiser to mention the contact last week in view of
the furore over Mark Waugh and Shane Warne.
The ACB announced yesterday that a Queen's Counsel from
Queensland will investigate these and any further Australian
connections with betting on cricket over the last six years.
Warne and Waugh have been told by the ACB that they need not go
to Lahore to give evidence to Justice Qayyum's judicial inquiry
into alleged corruption of one-day internationals. They were
summoned to appear on Saturday but both men have Sheffield Shield
playing commitments. The ACB have suggested that Warne and Waugh
might give evidence via a video link, or that a Pakistan
delegation should come to Australia.
Justice Qayyum yesterday issued a stern warning to Pakistan
captain Aamir Sohail over his second failure to appear before the
match-fixing commission. He said that Sohail would find himself
"in real trouble" if he did not comply. Sohail's lawyer said his
client will appear.
Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)