West Indies batsman Brian
Lara has refuted charges by an Indian bookmaker who has claimed he had
paid him to "under perform" during two one-day matches in India
in 1994. "I categorically deny taking money from a bookmaker or
anyone else to under perform," Lara said in a statement issued by the
West Indies Cricket Board secretariat in St. John's, Antigua yesterday.
The former West Indies captain arrived in London yesterday with the West
Indies team for an overnight stop on its way to its forthcoming tour of
Australia, to learn that India's Central Bureau of Investigation report
into match-fixing included evidence that a prominent bookmaker had given
him "around $40,000" to "under perform" in the two
matches on the tour of India in late 1994.
Team manager Ricky Skerritt told the Associated Press from the team's
hotel at London's Heathrow Airport that Lara was unfazed by the claims
that had been first hinted at in newspaper reports in Jamaica before the
team's departure Tuesday.
"Brian
is in great spirits," Skerritt said. "He is aware of it, we have
spoken about it and, as far as he's concerned, it never happened. He's not
even prepared to discuss it further." |
