5 Sep 2012

Bangladesh spinner banned for spot-fixing

6:27 am on 5 September 2012

The former Bangladesh cricket international Shariful Haque has been indefinitely banned for spot-fixing.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board banned Haque after an inquiry found the 36-year-old approached national player Mashrafe Mortaza before the first edition of the Bangladesh Premier League earlier this year to arrange spot-fixing.

Haque, who played his only international match for Bangladesh against India in 1998, denies the charges, calling them "baseless and false."

The BCB set up an inquiry after Mortaza, a former national captain, alleged that Haque offered him percentages of the winnings from spot-betting in return for advanced information on aspects of BPL matches.

The allegations, coupled with the arrest of a Pakistani national on separate spot-fixing charges, marred the BPL, the Bangladeshi answer to India's high-octane Twenty20 cricket tournament.

Non-payment of fees to some overseas players also overshadowed the event.