Darren Gough has called upon former England all-rounder Chris Lewis to name names if there is any truth in his allegation in a Sunday newspaper that three England players have received bribes, writes David Warner.
CALL: Darren Gough
Lewis refused to reveal any further information while taking part in Leicestershire's Benson and Hedges Cup game against Durham at Grace Road yesterday, but hinted it would not be long before the authorities would be contacting him.
Asked at Headingley what he thought of Lewis's allegations, Gough replied: "It is all news to me. If Lewis is going to say there are three England players involved then let him name them, if they exist. Let's get it all out into the open."
Gough and his Yorkshire colleagues Michael Vaughan and Chris Silverwood all played in the fifth Test against South Africa at Centurion this winter which England won after two forfeitures and which is now under scrutiny following the disgracing of South Africa's former captain Hansie Cronjie.
Vaughan was the hero of England's victory with a dazzling Test best score of 69 and he's sorry the match is now attracting publicity for the wrong reasons.
"There's obviously going to be inquiries into all kinds of matches and it's unfortunate for me that the Test in which I played well is the one they are going to inquire about," said Vaughan.
The International Cricket Council today responded to calls for action over corruption in the game by announcing an emergency meeting at Lord's in a fortnight.
The executive board of the world's governing body will meet at Lord's on May 2 and 3 to discuss allegations of match-fixing which have surfaced since Hansie Cronje was sacked as South African captain for accepting money from an Indian businessman.
Today's announcement follows an appeal by Lord MacLaurin, chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, that the leading cricket nations should assemble for a world summit to discuss the crisis.
ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya revealed: "ICC directors around the world are extremely concerned at the damage to the image of the game by the flow of allegations about players being involved in receiving payments from bookmakers.
"A summit meeting must be held to consider what further steps are needed to rid our sport of this major problem!"
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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