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Tuesday, 28 May 2013 01:03 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
PTI: Former umpire John Holder alleged on Sunday, that he was offered 10,000 Pounds (US$ 15,139) to help sway the course of a one-day international in the United Arab Emirates. Holder, who stood in 11 Tests, said the approach related to a match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Sharjah.
“They said if I can somehow lull the Sri Lanka batsmen into putting on a partnership of 85, they would give me 10,000 Pounds in cash,” 68-year-old Holder told BBC Radio’s Test Match Special. “I said, ‘You’ve got the wrong person’.” Barbados-born Holder, a former bowler for English county Hampshire, became a first-class umpire in 1983 and stood in 11 Tests and 19 ODIs from 1988 to 2001.
Amid recent corruption charges relating to the Indian Premier League, Hoder was asked if he’d ever been approached to ‘fix’ a match. “I was in Sharjah in 1993 for a one-day international series between Sri Lanka, West Indies and Pakistan,” he said. “I was introduced to a man and offered 10,000 Pounds to make sure Sri Lanka batsmen put on a partnership of 85.
“He told me his syndicate were involved in making money as the game fluctuates. I said, ‘You’ve got the wrong person’. Players and umpires who get involved in match-fixing have got to realise there’s no such thing as easy money. Once you get into that, your career is ruined. You’d lose your self-respect, the players and commentators would know. I couldn’t live my life looking over my shoulder, and I’d always be remembered as a cheat, so I had to say no, and reported it.”
The IPL was rocked by a scandal this month which saw India Test bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and fellow Rajasthan Royals players Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan arrested for alleged spot-fixing. And on Thursday, Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf was withdrawn from next month’s ICC Champions Trophy in the UK in June following reports he too was being investigated by the Indian Police.
