Australia consider one-day future

The Australian Cricket Board will wait for the outcome of the emergency International Cricket Council at Lord's next month before committing themselves to any more one-day tournaments.

The ACB has yet to respond to the scandal which has enveloped the sport since the revelation that the then South African captain, Hansie Cronje, accepted cash from anIndian businessman for "information" on matches.

The ACB's chief executive, Malcom Speed, said that the board had not discussed Australia's future scheduling and would wait until after the 2-3 May meeting in London.

"We'll listen to what is spoken about at the ICC meeting and maybe make a decision after that," Speed said. "We don't go to a lot of these tournaments anyway and we haven't thought about that particular issue in great detail."

Barry Leadbeater, the chairman of the Association of Cricket Umpires, has vouched for the "integrity and honesty" of his English colleagues following claims by Dr Ali Bacher, managing director of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, that World Cup matches may have been influenced by officials last summer.

"I've never heard of any approaches to any English umpires," Leadbetter said. "One of the reasons why they haven't is that English umpires are renowned worldwide for their integrity and honesty and they would get a short shrift if they ever did try to approach one."

The English Cricket Board spokesman Mark Hodgson said: "We have seen Dr Ali Bacher's statement and we welcome any further information he can provide as part of the ongoing process to root out this problem from world cricket."