Australian all-rounder Shane Watson reckons that the 'spot-fixing' and 'match-fixing' allegations that have rocked the cricket world, are "ruining the game".
Australian all-rounder Shane Watson reckons that the 'spot-fixing' and 'match-fixing' allegations that have rocked the cricket world, are "ruining the game".
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"What happened during the Sydney Test, which is one of the most special moments of my career . . . to have that talked about being tainted is very sad, and most probably for the people at the game as well," The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Watson, as saying.
"People start to think that emotion I had that day was fabricated," he added.
He further urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to make its investigations over the Lord's Test 'spot-fixing' scandal public for transparency.
"These are the reasons the ICC has to really step in and totally get on top of this. They've known these things could have been going on, that's why the anti-corruption unit was set up, they've waited for a newspaper to bring it to light," Watson said.
"There's no doubt when things change in a game, people will start thinking: 'Is that just how the game panned out or is it because people might have been paid in different ways to change the direction of the game?'"
"I'm more sad than anything. One thing we definitely don't need is what's going on, because it is horrific for the game," he added.
Watson and other Australian cricketers including Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee have said that suspected bookmakers had approached them during last year's tour of England.
On the other hand, the Pakistan team is in the midst of a betting scam, where fast bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif are alleged to have bowled pre-arranged no-balls in the Lord's Test, which England won by an innings and 225 runs.
British tabloid The News of the World has claimed that the cricketers were part of a 150,000-pound betting scam with London-based agent Mazhar Majeed.
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