Just when we thought the betting scandals were a thing of the past (or at least no new scandals would work their way to the surface, two Australian players and Australian coach John Buchanan were approached for pitch and tactical information during the recent Indian tour, Australian Cricket Board chief executive Malcolm Speed said on Tuesday.

Malcolm Speed informed a packed news conference that the approaches came by telephone on the final day of the Chennai Test match, the second game in the three-Test series against India in March this year. “On the (fifth) morning of that Test match two
players, Adam Gilchrist and Colin Miller, and the team coach John Buchanan, received telephone calls from a male person seeking details of how they saw the state of the match, how they saw the state of the pitch, and their thoughts on the likely outcome of
the match,” Speed said.

“Each of the two players and the coach terminated the call immediately. They reported it to the team manager.

“The team manager reported it to me. I reported it to the ICC (International Cricket Council) Anti-Corruption Unit for their investigation,” he added.

Many of the recent matchfixing allegations which have rocked the cricket world have centred on players being paid by bookmakers for information on pitches and playing conditions.

In a dramatic final day to the match, India who were set just 155 to win, managed to creep home with just two wickets to spare after a middle order collapse. The victory seeled a 2-1 upset series win for the hosts.

The manner in which the Australian team lost the final two games of the three match series, promted calls within the media that something was not quite right about the results. No proof that anything was amiss existed until the Australian camp informed the ICC that two players were approached during the recent tour of India.