Long Shot

Peter Meares

Description

High stakes gambling, murder and cricket. An unlikely mix? Perhaps in the genteel days of games on the village green, but not so now. The introduction of sports betting has changed the game for players and fans alike. Millions change hands with every match. As the financial incentive grows, so too does the temptation to cheat. Perhaps even to commit murder?A brilliant young South African batsman, Winston Olonga, is assassinated in a Test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.Enter Lucas Fox, commentator and private eye, who witnesses the killing and sets out to find the culprit.

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
• Date de parution: 30 novembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781398466098
• Langue: English

Extrait

T he L ong S hot
Peter Meares
Austin Macauley Publishers
2022-11-30
The Long Shot About the Author Dedication Copyright Information © Acknowledgement Prologue: Delhi 1984 Chapter 1: Sydney 1996 Chapter 2: Johannesburg South Africa 1990 Chapter 3: Midrand, South Africa 1990 Chapter 4: Johannesburg South Africa 1990 Chapter 5: Johannesburg 1992 Chapter 6: Mumbai, India 1992 Chapter 7: Sydney, Australia Chapter 8: Mumbai, India 1992 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11: Johannesburg, South Africa 1992 Chapter 12: Sydney, Australia Chapter 13: England 1993 Chapter 14: Sydney, Australia Chapter 15: Johannesburg, South Africa 1993 Chapter 16: Scotland 1986 Chapter 17: Johannesburg, South Africa 1993 Chapter 18 Chapter 19: Jamnagar, India 1996 Chapter 20: Sydney, Australia 1996 Chapter 21: Sydney, Australia 1968 Chapter 22: Sydney 1996 Chapter 23: Brisbane, Australia 1996 Chapter 24: Hong Kong 1988 Chapter 25: Sydney, Australia 1996 Chapter 26: Sydney 1996 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29: Sydney, 1996 Chapter 30: Rawalpindi, Pakistan 1996 Chapter 31: Sydney, Australia 1996 Chapter 32: London, England 1996 Chapter 33: Scotland Chapter 34: Sydney, Australia 1994 Chapter 35: Forbes, NSW Chapter 36: Sydney, Australia 1995 Chapter 37: Sydney, Australia Chapter 38 Chapter 39: Sydney, Australia Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44: 10 days later Chapter 45: Sydney, Australia 1995 Chapter 46: County Westmeath, Ireland 1994 Chapter 47: Sydney, Australia 1996 Chapter 48 Chapter 49: Sydney, Australia 1996 Chapter 50: Forbes, NSW 1995 Chapter 51: Sydney, Australia 1996 Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 55: Melbourne, Australia 1996 Chapter 56: Sydney, Australia 1996 Chapter 57: Sydney, Australia 1996 Chapter 58: Sydney, Australia 1996 Chapter 59: Melbourne, Australia 1996 Chapter 60: Melbourne, Australia 1996 Chapter 61 Chapter 62 Chapter 63 Chapter 64: Perth, WA 1996 Chapter 65: Sydney, Australia 1996 Chapter 66: Sydney, Australia 1996 Chapter 67: Perth, WA 1996 Chapter 68: Sydney, Australia Chapter 69: London, England 1996 Chapter 70: Mumbai, India 1996 Chapter 71: The Previous Day Chapter 72: Hyderabad, India 1996 Chapter 73: Mumbai, India 1996 Chapter 74: Sydney, Australia 1996 Chapter 75: London, England 1996 Chapter 76: Mumbai, India 1996 Chapter 77: Sydney, Australia 1996 Chapter 78: Brisbane, Australia Chapter 79: Sydney, Australia 1996 Chapter 80: Brisbane, Australia 1997 Chapter 81: Rawalpindi, Pakistan 1997 Chapter 82: Mumbai, India 1997 Chapter 83: Sydney, Australia Chapter 84: London, England 1997 Chapter 85: Brisbane, Australia 1997 Chapter 86 Chapter 87: Johannesburg, South Africa 1997 Chapter 88: Forbes, NSW 1997
About the Author
Peter Meares has two passions – sport and books. He has written six non-fiction books on sport, but this is his first novel. A first-grade cricketer, he retired at 22 to become a sports commentator with the ABC. He worked at two Olympics and six Commonwealth Games, including the 1982 Brisbane Games, for which he was the TV anchor.
He lives on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast with his wife, Rhonda.
Dedication
To my muse, Rhonda.
Copyright Information ©
Peter Meares 2022
The right of Peter Meares to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781398466081 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781398466098 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published 2022
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd ®
1 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5AA
Acknowledgement
When Monica Seles was stabbed in the back at a tennis tournament in 1993, I wondered how long it would be before a high-profile sports star became the victim of an assassin. In these uncertain times, anyone on a stage or public space can become a target for a killer, terrorist or not.
In writing this book, I have drawn on life experiences from my career, where I have been fortunate to witness some of the world’s biggest sporting events and most outstanding competitors.
I would like to thank friends, too numerous to mention, from school, playing fields and commentary boxes. Sport is a microcosm of life and a wonderful teacher. It shows us how to cope with adversity and builds lifelong friendships.
Some of my old mates are in this book, although it’s a work of fiction. Thanks fellas – I hope you enjoy it.
And finally, let me thank a publishing legend, Laurie Muller, who encouraged me to become a writer.
Prologue Delhi 1984
“How’s that! Well caught, Vinoo!”
The small crowd cheered excitedly as if this was a vital wicket in a test match. Whooping in triumph, the fielders ran around like dervishes. In fact, this was a pick-up game in a backstreet of old Delhi and most of the players were mere schoolboys. But play stopped as money changed hands.
Walking home after a day’s work as a bank clerk, Mukesh Gupta reflected on the passion of the spectacle. If people were willing to bet on an insignificant social game, how much would they wager on a State game or even a Test match?
Mukesh had always loved cricket, as did most of India’s population of 1.3 billion. Men and women, young and old. This was, without doubt, the national sport. So, it was natural that there would be plenty of people willing to wager on a sport they loved.
Always on the lookout for a money-making venture, Mukesh was determined to learn all he could about cricket and gambling. Travelling extensively, he spoke to bookmakers, cricketers and punters. He listened to BBC World Service and Radio Australia, picking up the finer points and jargon of the game from the test match commentators. After twelve months, he was operating a betting agency, with global contacts and eventually, a state-of-the-art website that enabled online punters to have a bet from anywhere in the world. In the process, he was making a lot of money.
By the mid-1990s, he had become cricket’s most notorious match-fixer. He had a network of lieutenants who approached players with tempting bribes. Armed with prior knowledge, he could set the odds accordingly, so he made a small fortune. With the proliferation of one-day internationals and the advent of T20 games, there was a huge expansion of interest from other countries.
Large corporations like Pepsi and Singer, with interests in Asia, began to invest in sub-continental cricket, sponsoring competitions. Accordingly, television companies, such as Rupert Murdoch’s ESPN Star, saw the benefit of covering cricket, so that every match became a target for bookmakers.
There are none so passionate about the game as Indians, (It’s estimated that every second person in the world watching cricket is Indian) and with the birth of the ultra-rich Indian Premier League, billions of rupees were wagered on each game.
The stakes were high and so was the level of corruption. Australian stars, Shane Warne and Mark Waugh, were approached by a bookmaker for information on players and pitch conditions. Indian captain, Mohammad Azharuddin was sacked for taking bribes. Unbelievably, even South Africa’s captain, the God-fearing Hansie Cronje, admitted to taking bribes from Mukesh Gupta.
Cronje was killed in mysterious circumstances in a plane crash.
Was he murdered?
Very likely, although it was never proven. But that was how far the match-fixers were now prepared to go. Cricket had gone from a friendly sport to a matter of life and death.
Chapter 1 Sydney 1996
“So, it all looks academic now. As long as Winston Olonga stays at the crease, South Africa should cruise home. They only need 45 runs, with three wickets in hand, for outright victory over Australia.”
In his Sydney Cricket Ground commentary box at the back of the M.A. Noble Stand, Lucas Fox paused in his description, milking the moment. Voice hushed, almost a whisper, he built the suspense for listeners in two countries. Just turned 30, tall and fair, Lucas looked as young as many of the players. No slouch as a batsman himself, he had sacrificed a budding cricket career for the more secure life of a commentator, and after three years, was reaping the benefits. His statistician, Billy Urquhart, was a mine of information, alerting Lucas to significant records, run-rates, bowling figures, archival anecdotes and other minutiae; they were a perfect team.
Their summer ratings were now on a par with the traditional cricket network, the ABC. With a distinctive, well-modulated voice, Lucas came across as someone who was knowledgeable, enthusiastic and witty, a perfect blend for a caller. Like the famous English soccer commentator Martin Tyler, Lucas rarely used an expert. He was outspoken, entertaining, and because of his youth, in touch with modern players. His distinctive voice commanded attention, his feeling for the game provoked interest and his analysis was rarely wrong.
“Olonga, this brilliantly instinctive batsman from the slums of Johannesburg, has been the find of this tour. Exciting, charismatic and humble, he’s almost as popular with the Australian public as he is at home. Broad-shouldered but light on his feet, he’s looks more like a middleweight boxer than a cricketer. But it’s his bearing that sets him apart, supremely confident, almost arrogant;