Crowe's exoneration may relieve Mark Waugh

The exoneration of New Zealand's former star batsman Martin Crowe from match-fixing charges should provide some relief to Australian cricketer Mark Waugh, also accused of accepting money from an Indian bookmaker.

Media circles believe Crowe, who was exonerated by an inquiry, commissioned by New Zealand cricket authorities, may take legal action against Delhi-based bookmaker Mukesh Gupta for wrongly accusing him of match-fixing.

On the other hand, the inquiry report into charges against Waugh is likely to be submitted next week. Greg Melick, a former Australian police officer, is conducting the investigation.

While Waugh still awaits the verdict on charges by Gupta, Crowe is a relieved man as he has been totally absolved of the bribery charges. The New Zealand inquiry has, in fact, put the heat back on Gupta.

Crowe will meet his solicitor David Howman next week to consider going on the offensive with action against Gupta and media outlets that published the damning allegations.

Gupta had accused Crowe of accepting bribes of $20,000 in 1992 for throwing cricket games. He had also alleged that he paid the same amount to Waugh for information at a six-a-side tournament in Hong Kong in 1993.

Gupta submitted these testimonies in front of India's Central Bureau of Investigation. Among other discrepancies in Gupta's allegations against Crowe, the most glaring was he had visited the New Zealand home of Crowe and met his then wife Simone Crowe.

The New Zealand anti-corruption inquiry noted that the New Zealand Immigration Service "after an exhaustive search" advised there was no record of anyone called "Makes Gupta" entering the country in 1991 or 1992.

Simone refused to attend the inquiry, but submitted a written statement in which she denied Gupta's allegations.

The inquiry report, co-authored by Sir Ian Barker and Nick Davidson, QC, has not only cleared Crowe of any wrong doing but also praised him as an "honest man who has told the truth" and said his name had been "most unfairly sullied".

The report, however, did admit that Crowe "...received money from a person whom he now understood to be Gupta, without realizing he was a bookmaker".

When Gupta made his allegations late last year, Crowe confessed to being paid $3,000 for what he thought was for writing on the 1992 World Cup.

Crowe has told the inquiry commission he thought he was to be paid for "writing articles from a captain's perspective for syndication in India".

But, interestingly, though Crowe admitted taking $3,000 from Gupta, a subsequent examination of Crowe's bank account showed no sum of either $3,000 or, as alleged by Gupta, $20,000 being deposited in it.

Crowe played cricket for New Zealand between 1982 and 1995. He was captain from 1990 to 1994. He played 77 Tests and 143 One Day International matches for New Zealand.

Martin Crowe is the latest Test player to be let off lightly. Before him at three other players -- England's Alec Stewart and Sri Lankans Aravinda de Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga -- accused of being involved in match-fixing by Gupta were exonerated by their respective cricket administrators.

Only Mark Waugh and West Indies star Brian Lara are yet to get their names cleared. But Gupta's evidences has led to bans on at least two Test cricketers, Mohammed Azharuddin of India and Hansie Cronje of South Africa.

Three others, Ajay Sharma (India), Salim Malik and Ata-ur-Rehman (both Pakistan) have also been banned for life for allegedly indulging in match-fixing activities.

-Indo-Asian News Service