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'They copped the fines on the chin'

Former ACB chairman Alan Crompton on the bookmaker controversy.

The transcript of a statement issued by former Australian Cricket Board chairman Alan Crompton regarding the bookmaker controversy involving Mark Waugh and Shane Warne.

Graham Halbish and I discussed the matter with Shane Warne and Mark Waugh immediately they made us aware of their actions.

They confirmed that for relatively small amounts they provided to bookmakers by telephone what to them was harmless information regarding weather conditions and likely pitch conditions.

The seriousness of the situation was strongly emphasised to Shane and Mark.

'It was pointed out to them that their behaviour was naive and foolish in the extreme because the public could wrongly make the mental leap that the players were also involved in bribery and match fixing, something that was definitely not the case.

Shane and Mark, to their credit, acknowledged that what they had done was naive in the extreme. They were fined $ 8,000 and $ 10,000 respectively, amounts in excess of what they had been paid by the bookmakers.

They copped the fines on the chin and paid them.

The circumstances and the action taken were reported immediately to the ACB and the ICC.

These events were regarded as an internal disciplinary matter between the ACB and the two players.

The ACB on rare occasions had cause to discipline players and it was the policy of the ACB to do this privately and without media announcement.

This was regarded as such an occasion, there's no suggestion bribery or match fixing was involved.