Players furious at 'fix' claims

Jones in action for Australia

Former Australian batsman Dean Jones has hit out at being named in a report into cricket corruption.

The Indian Central Bureau of Investigation report, published on Wednesday in New Delhi, names a number of leading cricket figures, including former England captain Alec Stewart, West Indian batsman Brian Lara and ex-New Zealand skipper Martin Crowe.

India's sports minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa has not clarified if the foreign players had been charged with accepting bribes from gambling syndicates or had merely been mentioned during investigations.

All my books are open, anyone can go through my place

  Dean Jones

Jones, who has applied for the vacant Indian coaching position, said he was subjected to detailed investigations after alerting authorities in 1992 that he had rejected approaches from an Indian player and bookmaker to throw a game.

"This has got me off-guard ... there is one player throwing a lot of dirt over there trying to protect his backside at the moment," Jones told Melbourne radio.

Scandal

"All my books are open, anyone can go through my place."

Jones said he had been vindicated by the earlier inquiries and was scathing of media reports in India linking him with match-fixing.

"Unfortunately people are throwing arrows at me ... I've got nothing to do with it," he said.

I've never had any contact with illegal gambling syndicates

  Martin Crowe

Crowe, who retired five years ago, said he was astonished to be embroiled in the scandal.

"I've never had any contact with illegal gambling syndicates," Crowe said.

"But we did hear whispers of things from the subcontinent."

The CBI investigation started in May after an international cricket bribery scandal erupted following admissions by South African captain Hansie Cronje that he had taken money from an Indian bookmaker in exchange for team and pitch information.

Cronje, who is still the subject of Indian police investigations, was fired and banned for life by South African cricket authorities.

Current Australian batsman Mark Waugh is also said to be named in the CBI report.

Mark Waugh, twin brother of Australian captain Steve Waugh, has already admitted to accepting money from a bookmaker in 1995 in exchange for pitch and weather reports.