Lanka manipulated Australia match, says Holding

Sydney, Apr 18 (UNI) Former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding has accused Sri Lanka of manipulating the Super Eight match against Australia by resting three key bowlers and said the format of the World Cup has opened the game to corruption.

Sri Lanka omitted star bowlers Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas from the seven-wicket defeat at Grenada's National Stadium while strike bowler Lasith Malinga was not named in the playing XI citing an injury.

Holding said by losing the match the Lankans wanted to avoid the same opponents in the semi-finals.

Had Sri Lanka won the game and New Zealand beat Australia on Friday, Australia and Sri Lanka could have met in a semi-final, Sri Lanka's least preferred option.

In that case, New Zealand would have finished first while second and third positions would have gone to either Australia or Sri Lanka as it was certain before the Lanka-Australia match that South Africa would finish fourth even if they beat England which they eventually did.

By losing by seven wickets, the Lankans assured themselves of finishing second or third and playing New Zealand in the semi-final in Jamaica, while Australia finished first to take on the Proteas in the other semi-final.

''I think what it does is allow people who know what is happening to get a head start if they are gambling,'' Holding was quoted as saying by 'The Australian'.

''I have an account with Betfair and I watch a lot of different markets.

''Before the game started, Australia was 2-1 on. As soon as the toss went to air, when they (Betfair) found out, Australia went to 5-1 on because Muralitharan wasn't playing, Malinga wasn't playing, Vaas wasn't playing,'' the former paceman said.

Holding said the only way to stop teams from manipulating results would be to shorten the Super Eight phase, which consists of six matches per team.

He wanted knockout games, which currently comprise just the semi-finals and final, to begin earlier.

''The way the World Cup is structured, you are going to have people trying to manipulate it,'' he said. ''I remember Australia doing the same thing in England at Old Trafford (in 1999) to try to get the West Indies to qualify.

''You can't do anything about it at the moment.

What you can do is change the format and make the knockout games start earlier,'' he said.

Former Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga also flayed the move to drop Vaas and Miralitharan, while ex-Australia skipper Ian Chappell described it as ''ridiculous and disgraceful'' and called on the International Cricket Council to ''ask some questions.'' A bewildered Ranatunga, who led Sri Lanka to the 1996 World Cup win, could not explain why this selection decision was taken at a time when Sri Lanka was building momentum heading into the finals.

''If Sri Lanka had to rest someone, they could have done away with Sanath Jayasuriya or would have rested some of the top order batsmen. Why rest two key bowlers?'' he asked.

Chappell said resting Vaas and Muralitharan also robbed the prospect of an exciting match in an otherwise dull tournament.

Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene had reasoned the two bowlers were left out because Muralitharan was carrying a slight groin injury and the veteran Vaas needed a rest.

But the newspaper reported that Muralitharan told spectators and Australian players that he was not injured and played handball after stumps.

UNI