No evidence of match-fixing,
say Kiwi umpires

New Zealand umpiring officials said on Tuesday they did not believe allegations that match-fixing occurred during the recent Pakistan cricket tour of New Zealand.

New Zealand Cricket umpiring manager Brian Aldridge said all the umpires involved in February's one-day series were hugely surprised at claims by sacked Pakistan coach Javed Miandad that his team had deliberately lost.

"If any umpire was suspicious he would have immediately reported to the match referee at the time and that never happened so there was no suspicion from any of the panel umpires that anything was going on at all," Aldridge said.

New Zealander Evan Watkin, who umpired the second of five matches in the series which Pakistan lost 3-2, said nothing had occurred to suggest one team was deliberately not trying its best.

"I still don't believe that there was any match-fixing involved, it was just one of those games that got away from one team," he said.

New Zealand Cricket said on Monday it would send a letter to Pakistan urging it to formally investigate Miandad's allegations.

Mail Cricket Editor