00:00Cricket in the 90s, it was baggy greens, banana peels on the boundary and bowlers trying to
00:05sledge batters into submission. But somewhere between all that sweaty brilliance was a story
00:10that almost sounds too Bollywood to be true. Two Aussie stars, one mysterious Indian man with a
00:17lot of money and a secret so juicy it was hidden for four whole years. This is the bizarre tale of
00:24Shane Vaughan and Mark Waugh and how two legends of the game got caught up in a scandal involving
00:31a bookie named John. Yes, just John, no surname, just John. Let's rewind to 1994 when Shane Vaughan's
00:40googly could break ankles and his judgment, well, that's another story. Australia were in Sri Lanka
00:45for the 1994 singer world series. Enter John the bookie, an Indian man, flashy, friendly and always
00:53plays with wards of cash. His goal? Information. Not match fixing, no, no. Just some good old
00:59fashion pitch reports, steam news and weather forecasts. You know, stuff Google would give
01:04you now, but back then Google was still learning how to walk. So John meets Vaughan and Waugh
01:09offers money and these two things. Hmm, easy cash for some harmless info. What could possibly
01:15go wrong? Spoiler alert, a lot. According to reports, Shane Vaughan got $5,000, Mark Waugh pocketed
01:22$4,000. Now, for two international predators, that's not exactly life-changing money. But
01:29apparently, it was enough for them to talk. About the pitch, the outfield, the mood in the
01:34dressing room, you know, top secret intelligence. Vaughan would later say, I was naive. I thought
01:39I was doing nothing wrong. Naive? Maybe. But when you take money from a man named John the bookie,
01:48it's rarely for charity work. And here's the kicker. They told the ACB immediately. Yes,
01:55Vaughan and Waugh went to the Australian cricket board and said, hmm, hey mates, we just took money
02:01from a guy called John. Cool, right? And the ACB, they fined them quietly and buried the whole thing
02:08like it was a dropped catch in the slips. Now, fast forward to 1998. The world was changing.
02:16Match-fixing scandals were exploding like firecrackers in a Diwadi sale. And suddenly, boom,
02:22a news report breaks. Shane Vaughan and Mark Waugh took money from a bookie in 1994. The world gasped.
02:29The media had a meltdown. Cricket fans were like, wait, this happened four years ago? Why was it
02:36hidden? Why was there no public statement? And most importantly, who even is John? Turns out,
02:42even Vaughan and Waugh didn't know much. They never met him again, never fixed a match. But that one
02:48bad decision haunted them forever. Both players denied fixing anything. And to be fair, no match
02:54was ever compromised. But their reputations slightly scuffed, like a kookabura after 40 overs.
03:00Vaughan called it the biggest regret of his career. And honestly, for a man who once sent
03:06her text to the wrong woman and missed a World Cup due to a banned substance, that says a lot.
03:12Mark Waugh quietly slipped out of the drama like a pro. No press conference drama, no tears,
03:18just classy cover drives and a smirk. Oh, and John the bookie? He was never caught,
03:23never identified. He vanished like a T-20 ticket after a Koli century.
03:28So, what's the moral of the story? Maybe, don't take money from strangers.
03:32Definitely, don't take money from strangers named John the bookie. And if you do,
03:38maybe, don't tell your cricket board and expect it'll all go away. Because in cricket,
03:43even harmless info can turn into headline chaos. This was the strange, slightly ridiculous and
03:49very 90s tale of Shane Wan, Mark Waugh and one very expensive weather report.
03:56For more cricket stories that sound made up but totally aren't, catch you in the next innings.
04:01Thanks.
04:02Thanks.
04:03Thanks.
04:04Thanks.
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