Pakistan fly in to furore

Cricket

The Australian Board has dismissed the inquiry findings which cleared the Pakistan batsman, Salim Malik, of bribery charges levelled by three Australian Test players, as Pakistan's cricketers arrived in Sydney yesterday for a six-week tour.

Graham Halbish, the ACB chief executive officer, criticised the report for suggesting Shane Warne, Tim May and Mark Waugh had invented their charges against Salim. "The Board stands behind its players and believes these statements are correct," he said in an official statement.

In Islamabad, the chairman of Pakistan's selection committee, Zafar Altaf, said the allegations that Salim offered the Australian players A$200,000 (pounds 100,000) to A$400,000 to to lose Test and one-day matches during Australia's tour of Pakistan last year should be laid to rest.

Pakistan's new captain, Wasim Akram, welcomed Salim's selection for the three-Test series and said the 17-man squad supported their former captain. Salim, who was selected after being cleared by the inquiry headed by a former Pakistan Supreme Court judge, was expected to arrive in Australia later in the week.

n Roger Twose, the English-born Warwickshire batsman who opted to play for New Zealand, is set to make his Test debut today when the second match of the three-Test series against India gets under way.