London bookie claims Sydney Test was fixed

August 30, 2010 10:02 am | Updated November 28, 2021 09:25 pm IST - Melbourne

The bookie, who was arrested for alleged ‘spot-fixing’ in the England-Pakistan Lord’s Test, has claimed that the result of the January Sydney Test between Australia and Pakistan was rigged.

The alleged match-fixer Mazhar Majeed, who was released on bail last night, is seen boasting about the fixed result and the money he earned from it in the video of the sting operation carried out by British tabloid ‘The News of the World’

“Let me tell you the last Test we did. It was the second Test against Australia in Sydney. Australia had two more wickets left. They had a lead of 10 runs, yeah. And Pakistan had all their wickets remaining.

“The odds for Pakistan to lose that match, for Australia to win that match, were I think 40-1. We let them get up to 150 then everyone lost their wickets,” newspapers here quoted Majeed as saying in the sting video.

“That one we made 1.3 million pounds. But that’s what I mean, you can get up to a million. Tests is where the biggest money is because those situations arise.”

Australia clinched an unlikely 36-run win in the Sydney Test after Pakistan lost nine wickets for a mere 89 runs.

The ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit had even investigated the match before giving it an all-clear.

But ‘The News of the World’ expose has cast fresh doubts over the game.

The sting has already resulted in the mobile phones and passports of some Pakistani players being confiscated in London.

The scandal implicates among others, Pakistan captain Salman Butt, the pace duo of Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal.

The team yesterday lost the Lord’s Test by an innings and 225 runs.

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