Cricket’s dodgiest coin toss revisited 30 years on: How match-fixer Salim Malik duped Ken Rutherford

It is the coin toss that changed the whole cricket landscape – and exposed cricket’s ugly underbelly. Here’s the story of how notorious match-fixer Salim Malik did the dodgy.

Cricketers love a milestone but the Pakistan team touring Australia will not want to be reminded this is the 30th anniversary of The Summer of the Dodgy Coin Toss.

The dodgy coin toss which changed cricket.

In the old days match referees did not used to be present at the toss because of the feeling it was such an incorruptible event – the host captain tosses a coin, the visiting captain called “heads’’ or “tails’’ and the winner says “we’ll bat’’ or “we’ll bowl.’’

But that all changed with some hi jinks at Auckland’s Eden Park in the first Test of the 1993-94 series when notorious match fixer and Pakistan captain Salim Malik, who once offered Shane Warne and Tim May money to throw a Test, tried to put one over New Zealand skipper Ken Rutherford.

Former Pakistan captain Salim Malik was a notorious match-fixer – and also forever changed how coin tosses would take place. Picture: AP

Now living in Brisbane as the boss of the Albion Park Harness Racing club, Rutherford takes up the story …

“I remember walking out on to Eden Park and Mark Greatbatch called me out and said ‘Ruds, just be careful’, because he had captained a President’s XI against Pakistan and he said Salim tried something on him at the toss but he did not quite know what it was,’’ Rutherford said.

“As I tossed the coin I was wondering what he was going to do and after the coin hit the ground once he actually caught it on the bounce (rather than let it settle) and said ‘we will field’ on a very green wicket on which both teams were desperate to field on,’’ Rutherford said.

“That was bad enough. But the thing was he had two things going for him because when he called he mumbled something that was not heads or tails but something in between which had a bit of both … it was like ‘Teds’ or Hails.’

Former NZ cricketer Ken Rutherford retells the story of cricket’s dodgiest coin toss. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

“So even if the coin had settled on the ground I don’t think I would have fared any better because he would have claimed it.

“The only other person out there was Grant Nisbet who was doing the television interview.

“We knew each other well and we just looked at each other because it happened so quickly.

“I said ‘what happened there?’ and Grant told me to come out the back to the television van and have a look back at the vision which confirmed our thoughts that he had bent down and caught the coin on the bounce.

“You couldn’t see everything but that was what happened. It was quite a skill.”

From that point the International Cricket Council insisted match referees be present at each coin toss.

Malik was later banned for life in 2000 for match fixing following the claims by Warne and May.

The ban was lifted in 2008 but Warne repeated his claims in his final autobiography, prompting Malik to claim Warne was only bitter because he could not get him out.

What a hide.