Warne and Waugh to face bribe grilling

Former Australian team manager Alan Crompton was also expected to give evidence at the inquiry, which Pakistan official Abdus Salam Khawar said could be extended into Saturday.

Khawar, registrar for the High Court of Lahore, said he was satisfied with arrangements for the session when commissioners will interview Warne and Waugh over their allegations that former Pakistan captain Salim Malik offered them bribes to play poorly.

The Pakistan commission investigating corruption allegations decided to come to Australia after it was revealed Waugh and Warne accepted money from an Indian bookmaker during their 1994 Sri Lankan tour for pitch and weather information.

Azmat Saeed, lawyer for Malik, and Pakistan Cricket Board legal adviser Ali Sibtain Fazli will also cross-examine Waugh and Warne at the Melbourne hearing.

Waugh testified to the commission in Lahore last October during Australia's tour of Pakistan but did not divulge his links with the illegal bookmaker.

After the bookmaker scandal became public last month, after a four-year coverup by the Australian Cricket Board, the commission wanted to further interview Mark Waugh and hear evidence from Warne and Crompton, who was team manager at the time.

Australian wicketkeeper Ian Healy said Friday he was not concerned about being called to give evidence at a separate ACB investigation into the betting scandal.

``I've got no problems with it at all. I'm sure Mark (Waugh) and Shane (Warne) will be cleared and the inquiry will do its job,'' said Healy.

Healy spoke before appearing at the inquiry, headed by former Queensland Criminal Justice Commission head Rob O'Regan, which has a brief to interview and take statements from all contracted players and any officials it deems necessary.

The inquiry was set up by the ACB after it was made public that Warne and Waugh had been fined four years previously for accepting payments from an illegal Indian bookmaker in Sri Lanka.

Healy said some other members of the Australian team that toured Sri Lanka then had already been interviewed.

O'Regan is also empowered to interview other ACB employees including coaches, selectors and umpires and is to finish his investigation by February 28.