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England furious over PCB chief's charges
Source: Agencies |
September 21, 2010, Tuesday
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PAKISTAN was embroiled in a bitter new corruption row before play began in the fourth one-day international against England at Lord's yesterday.
In a strongly worded statement, the England and Wales Cricket Board rejected an allegation of match-fixing in the third match on Friday which Pakistan won by 23 runs.
The allegation came from Pakistan Cricket Board Ijaz Butt in a television interview on Sunday in which he said "there is loud and clear talk in bookies' circles that some English players were paid enormous amounts of money to lose (Friday's) match".
Butt and other Pakistani officials had been angered by the International Cricket Council's decision to investigate Pakistan's innings at the Oval after receiving information from a British newspaper about an allegedly suspicious scoring pattern.
Although Butt appeared to backtrack yesterday when he told BBC radio that he had no proof of any wrongdoing and was merely relaying information he had heard from bookmakers, the damage had been done.
A joint statement from the ECB and the England team confirmed the tour of England and Wales would continue with yesterday's match and the final one-day in Southampton tomorrow.
But it called Butt's reported comments "wholly irresponsible and completely without foundation.
"Both the ECB and Team England view the comments made by Mr Butt as defamatory and not based in fact."
Captain Andrew Strauss said there had been "strong misgivings" about proceeding with the series.
"We are deeply concerned and disappointed that our integrity as cricketers has been brought into question. We refute these allegations completely and will be working closely with the ECB to explore all legal options open to us," he said.
"Under the circumstances we have strong misgivings about continuing to play the last two games of the current series and urge the Pakistani team and management to distance themselves from Mr Butt's allegations.
"We do, however, recognize our responsibilities to the game of cricket, and in particular to the cricket-loving public in this country, and will therefore endeavour to fulfil these fixtures to the best of our ability."
The decision to continue with the tour was welcomed by British Sports Minister Hugh Robinson. "It is a pragmatic decision that is in the best interests of world cricket," he said.
In a strongly worded statement, the England and Wales Cricket Board rejected an allegation of match-fixing in the third match on Friday which Pakistan won by 23 runs.
The allegation came from Pakistan Cricket Board Ijaz Butt in a television interview on Sunday in which he said "there is loud and clear talk in bookies' circles that some English players were paid enormous amounts of money to lose (Friday's) match".
Butt and other Pakistani officials had been angered by the International Cricket Council's decision to investigate Pakistan's innings at the Oval after receiving information from a British newspaper about an allegedly suspicious scoring pattern.
Although Butt appeared to backtrack yesterday when he told BBC radio that he had no proof of any wrongdoing and was merely relaying information he had heard from bookmakers, the damage had been done.
A joint statement from the ECB and the England team confirmed the tour of England and Wales would continue with yesterday's match and the final one-day in Southampton tomorrow.
But it called Butt's reported comments "wholly irresponsible and completely without foundation.
"Both the ECB and Team England view the comments made by Mr Butt as defamatory and not based in fact."
Captain Andrew Strauss said there had been "strong misgivings" about proceeding with the series.
"We are deeply concerned and disappointed that our integrity as cricketers has been brought into question. We refute these allegations completely and will be working closely with the ECB to explore all legal options open to us," he said.
"Under the circumstances we have strong misgivings about continuing to play the last two games of the current series and urge the Pakistani team and management to distance themselves from Mr Butt's allegations.
"We do, however, recognize our responsibilities to the game of cricket, and in particular to the cricket-loving public in this country, and will therefore endeavour to fulfil these fixtures to the best of our ability."
The decision to continue with the tour was welcomed by British Sports Minister Hugh Robinson. "It is a pragmatic decision that is in the best interests of world cricket," he said.
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