Mark Waugh to be questioned on Saturday

Australian cricket officials will meet Mark Waugh on Saturday to discuss allegations that he took money from an Indian bookmaker in exchange for team information during a tournament in Hong Kong.

The Australian Cricket Board said the 108-Test veteran would be interviewed by ACB investigator Greg Melick and the International Cricket Council's Anti-Corruption Unit at the Hilton Hotel in Melbourne on Saturday morning.

Legal representatives of Waugh, the twin brother of Australian captain Steve Waugh, had been negotiating with the ACB over a suitable time for the interview, which comes in the week of Australia's limited overs finals series against West Indies. This starts in Sydney on Wednesday and continues in Melbourne on Friday.

The ICC board is meeting in Melbourne this weekend and will receive a progress report from the head of its Anti-Corruption Unit, Sir Paul Condon.

Mark Waugh is certain to be named this week in Australia's squad to tour India for a three-test series starting later this month.

Waugh was among nine non-Indian players, including former Test captains Brian Lara, Alec Stewart and Martin Crowe, named in an Indian Central Bureau of Investigation report into match-fixing last year as having connections with bookmakers.

Waugh and team mate Shane Warne were fined in 1995 after admitting they had accepted money from a bookmaker in 1994 in exchange for information on pitch and weather conditions.

But Waugh has strongly denied these latest allegations relating to a Hong Kong tournament in 1992 or 1993.

Mail Cricket Editor