Warne, Waugh should have been banned admits ACB

“With hindsight, I think we can look back on these penalties and say perhaps they should have been harsher,” Speed said. “But even if the ACB wanted to revisit it, it is not able to do so.”

The ACB was criticised yesterday by the independent lawyer charged with investigating allegations of bribery and match-fixing in Australian cricket.

Rob O’Regan said the ACB should have suspended the pair after they admitted selling information to an illegal Indian bookmaker during a limited overs tournament in Sri Lanka in 1994. He also criticised the ACB for covering up the scandal andfailing to notify the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) about he case.

Former Australian captain Mark Taylor said today he also believed the case had been handled badly but said it should now be laid to rest.

“Things could have been done better in 1994 but they weren’t and that’s about the end of the story,” Taylor said.

PCB Posers:

An inquiry into allegations of match-fixing and bribery will not be over until bookmakers at the centre of the scandal have been questioned, the Pakistani Cricket Board (PCB) chairman said today.

Khalid Mahmood said he was “not at all” convinced that everything was revealed during a two-month independent probe, which yesterday cleared Australian cricket of any bribery or betting involvement.

Mahmood told ABC Radio he will not be satisfied until he hears from the bookmaker at the centre of the scandal that has shaken world cricket.

“It (the inquiry) has not even interrogated the bookmaker, not even identified the man who has supposedly provided money to thesetwo players (Warne and Waugh) while seeking information,” he said. “For this reason alone I think this inquiry is not conclusive, only then perhaps the whole truth could come out.”

Mahmood said it raised more questions than it answered, but did not agree with O’Regan’s finding that Warne and Waugh should have been suspended. “I would not be willing to subscribe to that view unless I have all the details,” he said.

Warne Unfazed: Warne, in Antigua for Australia’s tour of the West Indies, said he wanted to forget about the scandal and concentrate on his cricket.

“It’s been a tough couple of months but as far as I’m concerned it’s all been dealt with four or five years,” Warne told Australian Associated Press.

“That’s the end of it for me, I’m just looking forward to this tour and looking forward to getting back on the park,” he said.

Pro-white selectors rapped

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s touring team selectors in New Zealand have been criticised by their cricket chiefs athome for fielding two all-white sides.

The South African teams for limited overs internationals in Christchurch and Auckland last Wednesday and Saturday did not include players of colour, as stipulated in the United Cricket Board of South Africa’s (UCBSA) new selection guidelines.

“Owing to a misunderstanding, the board’s policy in relation to the selection of the South African team for the second and third One-Day Internationals in New Zealand was not complied with, to the consternation of the UCB,” said a statement signed by UCB president Ray White.

“This misunderstanding has now been resolved and I do not expect that there will be any further problems in this regard,” white’s statement added.

White said the misunderstanding was that, “the tour selectors thought the one-day internationals in New Zealand were not subject to the selection guidelines”.

Asked if disciplinary action would be taken against the selectors, White replied in the negative.

McMillan defiant

CAPETOWN: LeadingSouth African all-rounder Brian McMillan, accused of racism after he asked a teammate to bowl a `coolie creeper’ at the weekend, has said he would not apologise for his remark.

McMillan or `Big Mac’ as he is known, said people raising the issue had a `chip on their shoulders.’ “Does that mean changing a `chinaman’ (a left-arm spinner’s googly)?” he asked.

McMillan, who is based in western province, told The Cape Argus newspaper he had the support of his provincial teammates on the issue.

“I’m not prepared to apologise for what I said because I believe it is part of cricketing terminology.” The term `coolie creeper’ refers to a slow ball rolled along the ground.

But in South Africa, the word `coolie’, defined as an unskilled labourer in eastern countries, is a perjorative used against people of Asian extraction.

McMillan, who retired from international cricket last year, made the remark during a domestic game in Kwazulu-Natal Province.