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Former Kiwi captain was tricked into bookmaker deal

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November 2, 2000 

WELLINGTON (AP) - Former New Zealand cricket skipper Martin Crowe says he was tricked into taking money from an Indian bookmaker who had represented himself as a journalist.

Crowe was one of six former captains of international teams who were named in an Indian Central Bureau of Investigation report into allegations that top players had regular contact with illegal gambling.

The 162-page report was released Wednesday in New Delhi by Sports Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.

Dozens of players were implicated in the report, although in most cases the investigators did not specify whether a cricketer was accused of receiving a bribe or had merely been offered money to underperform.

The bulk of information was based on testimony from Indian bookmakers.

Indian bookmaker Mukesh Gupta alleged that he paid Crowe for pitch, weather and team information in 1992.

Crowe, who retired in 1995 as New Zealand's leading scorer in tests, said he received an advance of U.S. dlrs 3,000 for what he thought was information for a series of 10 newspaper columns.

"I wasn't actually paid by the bookmaker," Crowe said. "But it was obviously an organized scam to collect information and, once I realized what was going on, I knocked it on the head.

"It's very difficult sometimes to know the status of the person you're talking to, and it must have taken me about three or four chats (with Gupta) before I woke up to it."

Gupta told CBI investigators he'd paid U.S. dlrs 40,000 to star West Indian batsman Brian Lara to under perform on a 1994 tour of India.

He also claimed he'd offered former England skipper Alec Stewart and former Australian batsman Dean Jones money to under perform, but both players had rejected the money.

The investigation by India's premier criminal intelligence agency commenced in May when a bribery scandal erupted following admissions by South African captain Hansie Cronje that he'd accepted money from an Indian bookmaker in exchange for team and pitch information.

Cronje, who is still the subject of Indian police investigations, was fired and banned for life by South African cricket authorities.

Other allegations have been raised against former Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin among other players.