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'Fixing attempt shocking'

A Singapore cricket official said today an apparent match-fixing attempt in last week's Singapore International Challenge final between India and the West Indies was shocking and may have come from abroad.

''I don't know what comments to give because this is totally unexpected,'' Singapore Cricket Association secretary Anil Kalaver said. ''It's really shocking to us and actually we have no knowledge of this at all.''

Yesterday, United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCB) managing director Ali Bacher said umpire Rudi Koertzen of South Africa had been contacted on the eve of the final.

"He was called by somebody who said he wanted to meet him and that he was a bookmaker,'' said Bacher. ''He got such a fright that he hung up on the man immediately.

''He immediately reported the matter to (chief executive) David Richards at the ICC (International Cricket Council).''

West Indies won the Singapore final by four wickets.

Kalaver said cricket was its infancy in Singapore -- unlike soccer, which has a huge following and on which there is heavy betting. ''In the first place in Singapore, cricket is something new, if it's soccer yes....''

Kalaver said the call reported by Koertzen ''could also have been from overseas''.

He said his association would write to the ICC to seek their advice ''because this is something new to us''.

The Koertzen report follows claims there was an attempt to bribe players to fix the third Test between England and New Zealand in their recent series.

UNI