Friday, January 21 2005 18:39 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Sydney: A fresh scandal hit the Pakistani cricket team today (Jan 21, 2005) with a young Australian woman accusing one of its members of raping her in a hotel room.

The woman has told sexual assault counsellors that she had been raped by the player in his hotel room when the team was in Melbourne for the second Test against Australia in the last week of December.

The Australian media reported the alleged assault today without mentioning the name of the player said to be involved. The woman has so far not made a complaint to the police.

The police admitted that they were aware of the allegation but were powerless to investigate unless a formal complaint was made.

The Pakistani team was "stunned" by the allegation, according to coach Bob Woolmer who said that the matter would be "dealt with in-house".

Team Manager Haroon Rashid was quoted by 'Herald Sun' as saying that he would discuss the complaint with the accused player, indicating thereby that he knew his identity.

Pakistani players have found themselves in news for wrong reasons while on foreign tours. Allegations of drug abuse, brawls in nightclubs and night outs with women have dogged them in the West Indies, South Africa and Australia in recent years.