Mike Bushell reports (BBC News 24)

Two of Taylor's senior players, Shane Warne and Mark Waugh, are at the centre of the controversy after it was revealed they accepted cash from a bookmaker in Sri Lanka in 1994 in return for information about weather and pitch conditions.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has now accused the pair of unethical conduct and plans to take up the issue with the Australian Cricket Board as well as the International Cricket Council.

Leg-spinner Warne misses the Adelaide Test through injury, but Mark Waugh will play.

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And Taylor accepts the issue will be preying on the batsman's mind when the match begins on Friday.

"He's very disappointed with what's happened over the last 48 hours and it's probably affecting him at the moment," Taylor said.

"But life will go on. People are allowed to make mistakes.

"I don't think he's going to be in the best state of mind over the next five days unless he's super-human, and we've already come to the conclusion over the last 48 hours that he's not.

"Hopefully come the game, he hits a few in the middle early on, to put this behind him so he can think about hitting boundaries rather than ducking bouncers in the media."

Pakistan demands action

Warne and Waugh were fined by the ACB for their dealings with the bookmaker - but the issue was not made public for four years.

Khalid Mahmood of the Pakistan Cricket Board said the confessions rendered dubious the allegations by the two players that Pakistan's Salim Malik offered them bribes in 1994.

Salim Malik: Accused by the Aussies

"It is a very, very serious matter and should be dealt with properly," said Mahmood, who said the PCB would raise the matter at the ICC executive board meeting in Christchurch, New Zealand, next month.

He said it was distressing that Pakistan did not receive the information despite the fact that one of its key players had been accused by the two Australians of wrong-doing.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard admitted that the whole country was "intensely disappointed" by the scandal.

Former Pakistan captain Salim Malik plans to sue Warne and Waugh for defamation of character.

Malik is at the centre of an ongoing inquiry into allegations by Warne, Waugh and their former teammate Tim May that he offered bribes during Australia's 1994 tour of Pakistan.