Former New Zealand cricketer Chris Cairns said that he is "living a recurring nightmare after match-fixing allegations once again engulfed the New Zealand cricketing great," according to McKewen & Lawton of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Cairns said he was “100 percent in the dark” about the Int'l Cricket Council's reported allegations against him and two other former Black Caps -- Lou Vincent and Daryl Tuffey. Cairns said his family, in particular his mother and father -- former int'l Lance -- were doing it “tough.” Cairns: "The hardest thing is the impact on my mum, my dad, my family." Cairns "cut short his TV commentary duties with Sky" during Thursday's test match between New Zealand and the West Indies in Dunedin to "fly back to Auckland last night to be with his family and trusted advisors" (SMH, 12/6). In Canberra, Trevor McKewen reported former Test batsman Lou Vincent released a statement on Thursday afternoon "confirming he was one of the three players at the centre of the inquiry and he would co-operate with officials." The statement read, ''I wish to let everyone know that I am co-operating with an ongoing ICC anti-corruption investigation that has been made public today. This investigation is bound by a number of rules and regulations that mean I am unable to make any further public comment." Cairns has "previously successfully defended match-fixing allegations." He sued Indian cricket official Lalit Modi in the London High Court last year. Cairns won a settlement of A$158,000 in March last year. The judge also ordered Modi to pay Cairns' legal bill of A$700,000. Modi was "unsuccessful in appealing the ruling in October last year" (CANBERRA TIMES, 12/6).
DARK UNDERWORLD: In Sydney, Malcolm Conn wrote the "history, tradition and pulling power of Ashes contests camouflages the fragile state of cricket in most other countries and the sorry state of its administration." Then "there is the game's dark underworld, which continues inducing players into match and spot fixing despite the many millions of dollars spent over the years on the International Cricket Council's largely invisible anti-corruption unit." Former London Police Chief Paul Condon identified India as "the engine room of match-fixing and betting in his inaugural report 13 years ago." Yet the tentacles "stretch everywhere" (DAILY TELEGRAPH, 12/6).
TENNIS MATCH-FIXING: In Melbourne, Kate McClymont reported "the possibility of match-fixing" on the int'l women's tennis circuit "has been raised via telephone intercepts played at a police corruption inquiry." The New South Wales Police Integrity Commission played a call made on Jan. 30 in which a former Australian tennis professional rang one of the nation's largest punters, Steve Fletcher, telling him there is a ''rort in tennis." The former player, whose name was suppressed by the inquiry, "wanted Fletcher to wager on a women's doubles match at the Pattaya Open in Thailand" (THE AGE, 12/6).
BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT: INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL reported one of football's most infamous match-fixing scandals "is back in the spotlight" with the retrial in Bochum, Germany, of notorious kingpin Ante Sapina, accused of "being part of an international match-fixing network that shocked the game's authorities." Two years ago, Sapina and an accomplice were jailed for five-and-a-half years after "being found guilty of rigging over 20 matches." The case "was one of the first of its kind to reveal the extent of the influence of Asia's illegal gambling dens" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 12/5).
