THE International Cricket Council must begin a fresh and far-reaching inquiry into the dodgy second Test between Australia and Pakistan last summer in wake of new claims of corruption in London over the weekend.

No longer can the ICC claim there was only evidence of a demoralised Pakistan team at the SCG, as former ICC anti-corruption boss Lord Paul Condon said after his investigation - surprise, surprise - failed to provide any factual proof of bookmaker interference.

‘‘It is a match and series that worried us, we spent a lot of time talking to the players and PCB. The challenge is finding where is the solid fact,’’ Condon said.

‘‘What you have there is a lot of strife within the team and Pakistan politics with rivals camps making allegations.

‘‘We are satisfied that was a totally dysfunctional tour from a Pakistan point of view.

‘‘The dysfunctionality in the dressing room led to players not performing well, to maybe players potentially underperforming deliberately.

‘‘What we still need to establish is whether that was because rival camps wanted to do down captains or potential captains, or whether it was more serious, doing it for a financial fix.’’

This time, it appears, the later may be the case - and these revelations are too serious to not find a definitive culprit.

The Pakistan team again finds itself embroiled in match-fixing allegations or, to be precise, spot fixing, after British police arrested a man on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers.

The controversy erupted after the News of the World newspaper claimed some members of the Pakistan team were involved in a scam in the fourth and final Test against England at Lord’s.

In particular, it’s been alleged several no-balls were delivered by Pakistan pace bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir as part of the fix.

Spot fixing, or “fancy fixing” as it can be known, is far easier to orchestrate than pure match-fixing as it’s unlikely to affect the outcome of a match, but can still net millions for those participating in the illegal betting syndicates. As one bookie on the sub-continent once explained to backpagelead.com.au, it can involve anything from gambling on the number of no balls and wides, to runs within sessions, to when the new ball is taken to some of the more odd things such as at which end a particular umpire will stand to how many times a wicketkeeper dislodges the bails.

Backpagelead.com.au was once told of a superstar batsman who played out a maiden in the 15th over of a major one-day international - that used to be the last over of major fielding restrictions - to spite bookmakers who had backed pre-match a run spree in that over.

While ‘‘John the bookmaker’’ was the key figure of rampant illegal betting and fixing in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it appears Mazhar Majeed is allgedly the new ‘‘fixer’’.

The News of the World alleges that Amir delivered no-balls just as Majeed had predicted, for example with the first ball of the third over of England's innings. Such was the magnitude with which Amir overstepped that television commentators were left bemused.

If this revelation wasn’t bad enough, Majeed was even quoted by News of the World as confirming suspicions that Australia’s stunning victory in the second Test at the SCG earlier this year was also tainted.

Ricky Ponting’s men trailed by 206 on the first innings but, miraculously, went on to win by 36 runs. Chasing 176 for victory, Pakistan was dismissed for just 139.

Suspicions were raised during Australia’s second innings when Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal dropped four easy catches and botched a run out.

The News of the World said it has Majeed on camera declaring match-fixing was still prevalent in international cricket.

‘‘Let me tell you the last Test we did ... it  was the second Test against Australia in Sydney,’’ Majeed said.

‘‘Australia had two more wickets left. They had a lead of 10 runs, yeah. And Pakistan had all their wickets remaining. The odds for Pakistan to lose that match, for Australia to win that match, were I think 40-1.

‘‘We let them get up to 150 then everyone lost their wickets. That one we made 1.3. But that’s what, I mean, you can get up to a million.

‘‘Tests is where the biggest money is because those situations arise.’’

After years of suspicions, corruption allegations exploded in 2000 when former South African captain Hansie Cronje was banned for life. The likes of Salim Malik and Mohammad Azharuddin were also banned, while many more were implicated in some shape or form.

If the ICC’s anti-corruption unit had thought it had made major progress in the ensuing years, it must now think again.

And the one place to start is the SCG.