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Qayyum suggested life ban on Salim Malik

Paran Balakrishnan

The Pakistan judge who conducted an inquiry into match-fixing had recommended that the country's top cricketers including former captain Salim Malik should be banned for life and others reprimanded, a London newspaper has reported.

Justice Malik Qayyum found that match-fixing had taken place since 1994. "The evidence appears to confirm that match-fixing has been prevalent among Pakistan sides since 1994," according to the report leaked to London's The Observer.

The players who face action include Malik, Mushtaq Ahmed and another former captain, Wasim Akram.

Qayyum told The Sunday Telegraph that he had recommended action against these players.

Asked whether he had recommended a life ban for Malik, the judge told the Sunday Telegraph: "That is correct."

About Ahmed, he said: "I can't say, but the answer is not no."

Regarding Akram, who captained Pakistan in last year's World Cup, the judge replied: "I can tell you that he has not got off scot-free."

The Qayyum report tells about dressing-room fights and players who feared for their families' safety if they revealed names.

The Observer reported: "One senior figure giving evidence in October '98 said that there were only four Pakistan players, 'who I consider absolutely clean'."

Another player told the inquiry: "I can't disclose the names of the main culprits though as a matter of fact, the entire team is involved in match-fixing and betting except one player."

Qayyum told The Sunday Telegraph that he was baffled by the Pakistan Cricket Board chief’s statement last week that there was, "no evidence of planned match-fixing". The judge warned that he will prevent any cover-up.

One player told the inquiry that the Pakistan team had struggled to lose the last one-day international against New Zealand in 1994. The player was told before the match that, 'we have to lose as a deal has been struck.' The next day he was reprimanded for taking a catch. He was again told: 'We have to lose this match.'

The player testified that the offer was made in front of other players. "I was offered thousands of dollars. I told them I would think about it. There were also four or five other players and it was obvious that they must also have been offered money."

During the match, bowlers began bowling wide deliberately when it looked as if rain would stop play. New Zealand won the match by seven wickets.

Another official told the inquiry that he had approached the cricket board and told them he suspected widespread match-fixing. He told the inquiry: "In my opinion, expediency came in way of the administrators imposing some punishment as the team was very strong."

A bookmaker testified that he had paid two players $100,000 on behalf of someone else to fix a match in Sri Lanka.