Cricket: Players asked for info on match

MELBOURNE - Two Australian players and coach John Buchanan were approached for pitch and tactical information during the tour of India, Australian Cricket Board chief executive Malcolm Speed said yesterday.

The approaches came by telephone on the fifth day of the Chennai test, the second game in the three-test series in March, Speed said.

"On the [fifth] morning of that test match, Adam Gilchrist and Colin Miller, and team coach John Buchanan, received telephone calls from a male person seeking details of how they saw the state of the match, how they saw the state of the pitch and their thoughts on the likely outcome of the match.

"Each of the two players and the coach terminated the call immediately, and reported it to the team manager.

"The team manager reported it to me. I reported it to the ICC [International Cricket Council] anti-corruption unit for their investigation."

Many of the matchfixing allegations which have rocked the cricket world have centred on players being paid by bookmakers for information on pitches and playing conditions.

* Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath is seeking legal advice over allegations that he called a Sri Lankan opponent a "black monkey."

Speed said McGrath had told him he absolutely rejected the claim and was offended and upset by the suggestion. Former Sri Lankan opener Roshan Mahanama makes the allegation in an autobiography to be launched in Melbourne on Friday.

He says McGrath called Sanath Jayasuriya a "black monkey" during the one-day final in Sydney in 1995-96.

Mahanama did not play in that match, and the umpires, Peter Parker and Steve Randell, received no complaints.

Speed said the ACB would not investigate the claim further unless there was more concrete information.

- AGENCIES