Salim's place in history

Salim Malik: Full of grace and power

When it comes to his place in the game, Salim Malik will probably now be remembered more for his bank account and his bookmaker than his batting.

And for lovers of the game from his home city of Lahore all the way to the heart of the sport at Lord's, that is a great shame because he was an exceptional talent.

The graceful right-hander was born in 1963 and enjoyed a distinguished career as a dashing middle-order batsman for Pakistan, Habib Bank and the Lahore City Cricket Association, as well as English county Essex.

Salim Malik

Test debut aged 18 in 1981, made 100

103 Tests, 15 centuries, average of 43.69

283 one-day internationals, five centuries, average of 32.88

Skippered Pakistan in early 1990s but also became emboiled in scandal

As so often happens with Pakistan's finest Test cricketers Salim made his Test debut as a teenager - and starred on his first appearance for his country.

Sri Lanka, in 1981, were the opponents as the young batsman first appeared on the most senior stage in Karachi.

During the match he became the third Pakistani to score a century on a Test debut, going on to score 14 more over the following years as well as five in one-day international cricket.

Salim's highest Test score of 237 came during his stint as captain of the national side between 1993 and 1995.

Salim's 237 is not the most famous incident from the 1994 series

It came in his home city against Australia, although was probably not his most memorable international performance.

Considering the fierce rivalry between the two nations, that probably came in 1987 in Calcutta, when he bludgeoned the Indian attack at a staggering rate of 11 runs an over to win a one-day game.

Many also remember him courageously facing the West Indian pace attack during its heyday in 1986 - with a broken arm.

But for all these heroic achievements, and the graceful way in which Salim reached such landmarks, it is the allegations of match-fixing which have probably generated more coverage.

Salim (centre) celebrates victory in the ill-fated Karachi Test

Ironically the controversy dates back to the same series which saw the Lahore double hundred, a 1994 battle with Australia.

Touring spin bowlers Shane Warne and Tim May alleged that Malik offered them money to bowl badly in the first Test in Karachi.

The two Aussies, team-mate Mark Waugh and the then-Australian captain Mark Taylor all became embroiled in a bitter war of words with the Pakistani star.

It eventually led to a Lahore courtroom appearance, with Taylor and Waugh giving evidence against Salim during Australia's 1999-9 tour of Pakistan.

Warne ponders his next move during the 1994 tour

An appearance by May and Waugh at a sitting of the Pakistani judicial commission in Melbourne in early 1999 added further weight to the case against Salim.

It also dragged cricket's name further down into a mire of corruption.

Matters were not helped when it was revealed that Waugh and Warne had themselves received money from a bookmaker for offering pitch information in Sri Lanka during 1994.

The whole complicated controversy rapidly became the sport's most notorious scandal - at least until this year's Hansie Cronje affair.

Whether it is the last will depend as much on players like Salim, Warne and Cronje, as the game's lawmakers.