Perhaps Intikhab, who had denied only last Saturday that such an oath had been taken, decided to make his revelation to counter ru- mours that his team had 'thrown' both the one-off Test against South Africa in Johannesburg last month and the first Test against Zimbabwe, lost against all expectation by an innings.

``There were so many rumours prior to the tour and we didn't want any problems,'' Intikhab explained, though he would not be drawn on what exactly the rumours were.

Of considerable interest was Intikhab's contention that similar oaths on the Koran had been taken by the Pakistan team for some years. There is every reason to believe him, in the light of what Imran Khan is reported to have said at a press conference in Karachi last September.

Imran apparently claimed that, under his captaincy at a Sharjah one-day international tournament in 1990-91, he had received information about four of his Pakistani side who had allegedly been approached to 'throw' the next match, against India.

All betting is banned in Pakistan

Imran's response was a clever one for, at the team meeting prior to the game, he insisted that all his players put in an identical sum to form a pool of US$20,000 that would be used to back Pakistan to win the match. They did and the players picked up winnings at even- money.

Since then it is no surprise that Pakistani management have been concerned about the possibility of players being bribed.

The rumours of a 'thrown' match stem from reports from Bombay that bookmakers there have refused to honour bets placed at odds of 40-1 against a Zimbabwe win. Betting on cricket - unlike horse racing - is illegal in India and has therefore to be done in an underhand fashion. All betting is banned in Pakistan.

Some large bets were apparently placed on Zimbabwe and, although their historic first Test win was expected by no-one in the cricketing fraternity, the odds offered against them were ludicrously generous in a two-horse race.

Pakistan, moreover, had fallen apart in their Test defeat by South Africa in Johannesburg and, if ever there was a chance of beating them, Zimbabwe had it in that first Test in Harare.

Having seen both Test matches in question (even though they resulted in crushing defeats for Pakistan), I feel sure that neither was 'thrown'. Javed Burki, the chairman of the ad hoc committee of the Pakistan board, who flew into Zimbabwe early yesterday morning - by pure coincidence, as his trip was a planned stop-over en route to London - said he did not think it was possible to 'throw' a Test match.

'If we find the slightest hint of impropriety, we'll take immediate action'

He added: ``But, God forbid, if we find the slightest hint of impropriety, we'll take immediate action.''

Burki revealed that allegations of the Pakistani team having 'thrown' matches in South Africa appeared in the home press a month ago.

``We started asking for names, but none ever came out; and we want names,'' he announced. ``Reference is constantly being made to Bombay, as all gambling and bookmaking in Pakistan is illegal.''

Thanks: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk)

Contributed by phaedrus (phaedrus@minerva.cis.yale.edu)