| An influential Australian
newspaper, The broadsheet called Saturday for Mark Waugh and Brian Lara to
stand down from the five-Test series between Australia and the West Indies
for the good of the game. The newspaper said it would be the "most
noble" course the pair could take after being mentioned by bookmaker
Mukesh Gupta in India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) report into
match fixing. It added that the move "would signal the determination
of this generation to repair a game destroyed by some of the game's most
admired players".
It also condemned the
inclusion of England's Alec Stewart and Pakistan's Wasim Akram, Mushtaq
Ahmed, Saeed Anwar and Inzamam-Ul-Haq in the Test match currently underway
in Lahore. "Such is the scale of destruction greedy players and
incompetent administrators have wrought on the game that it will take
years. perhaps decades, to restore confidence," the paper said.
"If
there is to be a future it can only be achieved with strength, dignity and
sacrifice."
Both
Lara and Waugh have denied all the allegations and Australian Cricket
Board (ACB) chief executive Malcolm Speed, given the right of reply, told
why he believed Waugh, at least, should be allowed to continue.
"Today,
The Australian repeats its calls for Mark Waugh to step aside. Such a
suggestion may even strike a chord with many cricket followers looking for
a symbolic sacrifice to ease their anguish over the recent revelations in
the game," he wrote. "It is an understandable reaction. It is
also wrong. "It is wrong because there is nothing that even
approaches substantiated allegations against Waugh. "It is wrong
because whatever the arguments, it will be seen as a sign that there is a
level of evidence that simply does not exist and it is wrong because it
works against the basic Australian belief of giving every person a fair
go."
Mark Waugh
and any other player implicated would be given the opportunity by the
Anti-Corruption Unit and the ACB Special Investigator to comment on and
explain any evidence which implicated that player.
In the event that there was sufficient evidence, the Anti-Corruption unit
and the ACB Special Investigator would recommend to the ICC and the ACB
that charges be framed against Mark Waugh or any other player implicated.
Charges would
be framed and a hearing put in place where the bookmaker and any other
witnesses would give evidence and the player would be given the
opportunity to test that evidence.
The relevant authority will make a finding. Speed added: "Throughout
this process any player is entitled to the presumption of innocence.
"At this point we are at stage one of a process that will properly
test these claims and examine all the available evidence and it is
premature to take any action against Mark Waugh."
Waugh has already been named in the Australian team for the series
starting Thursday. |
