London, April 18: Former England all-rounder Chris Lewis has been told to put up or shut up. Lewis was summoned by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to a meeting today to discuss his allegations that three England cricketers accepted bribes.Lewis told a tabloid newspaper on Sunday that Indian ``sports promoter'' Ashim Kheterpal had told him the names of three England cricketers who were in his pay. Lewis said that at the time Kheterpal had been trying to recruit him into the match-fixing business.Lewis has so far refused to name the three players saying they should own up. Whether Gerald Elias, chairman of the ECB's disciplinary committee, and Simon Pack, the international teams director, will make Lewis talk remains to be seen.Last year, Lewis told a newspaper that he had been offered Å“300,000 to fix the result of the third Test against New Zealand by Kheterpal. Scotland Yard began an investigation into the claim, which was backed up by New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, who said that he had also been approached before the fourth Test at Headingley.The initial police investigation involved interviews with all the England players involved in the series, team management and match officials. They found no evidence against any of them. The Scotland Yard inquiry is still open, and Lewis can expect to be questioned by police on the new claims he has made.Lewis is also under pressure from former England colleagues to spill the beans. Ian Botham, issued him a challenge saying: ``Either Chris Lewis is going to have to name names or he should shut up and get out of the game, for everyone's sake. If he can really identify three England cricketers who have taken backhanders, he must be ordered to spill the beans.''Alan Mullaly, who along with Alec Stewart was a player Kheterpal had identified as a target, according to Lewis's revelations last summer said: ``I never knew anything about it last time and it will be interesting to see if there is anything in it this time around.'' He added: ``I've been around the England set-up for a few years and have never seen or heard something like this, but after Cronje, people are prepared to believe anything.''So far the feeling is that Lewis is a limelight seeker. He has been has been described as an ``outcaste'' and an ``eccentric.'' Since his only source for the names is Kheterpal, his information is already treated as suspect. And the fact that he sold his story for an estimated Å“100,000 to a newspaper has also lost him enormous sympathy. But another view is that Lewis is being isolated by a cricket establishment which is closing ranks in order to keep England's unsullied cricketing reputation intact.
