Cricket: Amiss has to settle for 100,000 pounds

DENNIS AMISS, the former England opener, was left out of pocket last night after losing pounds 130,000 on a winning bet.

The Warwickshire chief executive and his committee had staked a pounds 5 yankee (six doubles, four trebles and a four- fold accumulator) on winning the County Championship and Sunday League and reaching the finals of the Benson & Hedges Cup and NatWest Trophy. They also staked pounds 5 on four single bets on each competition for a total stake of pounds 75.

Warwickshire's treble - they were beaten by Worcestershire in the NatWest final - should have won Amiss and his committee around pounds 230,000, but the bookmakers, Surrey Racing, decided it was a speciality wager, subject to a maximum pay-out of pounds 100,000.

Amiss objected to this decision and contacted the Sporting Life's Green Seal Service, the official arbitration body for betting disputes, which ruled in favour of Surrey Racing.

The company was criticised, however, for not informing Warwickshire of the maximum pay-out. 'It's very disappointing, because we didn't know,' Amiss said. 'We will now consult the whole committee about our next step but if we'd believed it was a speciality bet we wouldn't have gone to arbitration.'