Former English wicketkeeper Paul Nixon has claimed that he was offered 'millions of pounds' to fix a Twenty20 match in England.
Published: Nov 03, 2011, 11:42 AM (IST)
Edited: Nov 03, 2011, 11:42 AM (IST)
Paul Nixon said he had spoken to ICC’s anti-corruption unit when the incident happened © Getty Images
London: Nov 3, 2011
Former English wicketkeeper Paul Nixon has claimed that he was offered ‘millions of pounds’ to fix a Twenty20 match in England.
The 41-year-old, however, did not elaborate on his claim but said he had spoken to ICC’s anti-corruption unit when the incident happened.
“I was offered enormous money, millions of pounds, to fix a Twenty20 game in England,” Nixon, who retired at the end of last season, was quoted as saying in the ‘Daily Mail’.
“I had to speak to the anti-corruption guys and they then went to work but people have to be caught doing it and that’s tough. This has all done terrible damage to the game,” he added.
Nixon was quoted in 2007 as saying that he had never been approached by bookmakers and hence, the game in question is believed to have taken place since then.
His claims comes on a day when three Pakistani cricketers — Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer — and their agent Majhar Majeed, convicted in the spot-fixing scandal, are awaiting their fate in the Southwark Crown Court.
The spot-fixing scandals came to light last year when now-defunct British tabloid ‘News of the World’ did a sting operation to expose that the three Pakistani cricketers were involved in bowling deliberate no-balls during a Lord’ Test against England.
Nixon emphasised the corruption scandal could easily stretch to England when he made his claim on a radio station in his native Cumbria, the paper reported.
Former Essex bowler Mervyn Westfield was arrested last year on claims of spot-fixing during a Pro40 one-day match against Durham.(PTI)
