England board to discuss corruption probe

LONDON: The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will meet on Saturday to discuss an ICC investigation into possible corruption during Friday's one-day international against Pakistan at the Oval. The International Cricket Council said on Saturday it is investigating the match after receiving information from a British newspaper alleging a suspicious scoring pattern in Pakistan's innings. Pakistan won the third game of the five-match series by 23 runs. "The ECB is seeking clarification and details from the ICC and the ECB board will meet later today to discuss the matter," the board said in a statement on Saturday. Earlier ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said the investigation followed a report in the Sun newspaper which said bookmakers knew details of Pakistan's innings before the match began. "A source informed The Sun newspaper that a certain scoring pattern would emerge during certain stages of the match and, broadly speaking, that information appeared to be correct," Lorgat said in a statement. "We therefore feel it is incumbent upon us to launch a full enquiry into this particular game although it is worth pointing out at this stage that we are not stating as fact that anything untoward has occurred. "The ICC maintains a zero-tolerance approach to corruption. Any player or official found guilty of an offence will face the full rigour of our robust Anti-Corruption Code so that we can ensure the integrity of the sport is maintained." PAKISTAN TRIO SUSPENDED Pakistan test captain Salman Butt and opening bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir have returned home after they were provisionally suspended by the ICC following newspaper reports of premeditated no-balls in the fourth test against England at Lord's last month. British police, who are also investigating the spot-fixing allegations, questioned a fourth player, Wahab Riaz, last week. Pakistan Sports Minister Aijaz Jakhrani said the government would not take action unless there was clear evidence against a player. "The ICC has the power and an anti-corruption unit and they should go ahead and use that," Jakhrani told the Indian news channel CNN-IBN. "If they get any proof then we will definitely look into it." He added that if the government had cracked down on corruption in the past the recent scandals would not have happened. "If we had made some harsh decisions in the past it would not have happened. If we had taken some harsh decisions young players would not dare to do something wrong," he added. "This is the time when we have to take some tough decisions. This time we will not spare anybody." Jakhrani said he was also unhappy with the role of team management and felt they were not strict enough. "This is the thing management has to do. Access to players should not be easy and mobile phones should not be available to the players when they are playing.

ICC to sit back until Scotland Yard finishes probe

 NEW DELHI: Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt said that no leniency would be given to the players involved in corruption nor such request has been made while ICC president Sharad Pawar said that no compromise would be made on the supremacy of the game and the ICC would take aany action only after the Scotland Yard completes its investigations.

Sharad Pawar held talks at his home in New Delhi with Ijaz Butt on Thursday to discuss allegations that Pakistan players were paid to bowl deliberate no-balls during a match in England last month.

The ICC chief vowed the regulatory body would "maintain the sanctity" of the game amid Pakistan's spot-fixing betting scandal.

"We will never tolerate any nonsense or corruption in the game of cricket. We want to maintain the sanctity of cricket," Pawar, who is also India's agriculture minister, told reporters after the 90-minute talks.

Pakistan players Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt have all written to the ICC saying they will defend themselves over disciplinary action brought against them, their lawyers confirmed this week.

Butt said they would remain suspended until a probe by the Scotland Yard was completed.

"The matter is under investigation. Until that investigation is completed, we cannot comment on it," he said. "The ICC has suspended the players. Unless the suspension is removed, they cannot play."

Replying to a question, Pawar said that the PBC is fully cooperating with the ICC.

Pakistan may lose neutral UK matches

Pakistan's cricket future has grown significantly more clouded after it emerged that English administrators may rule out further neutral matches in Britain. Test skipper Salman Butt and seam bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif returned home on Friday after they were suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) following allegations of deliberate no-balls in last month's Test at Lord's as part of a betting scam. The claims have sparked an international furore and vastly overshadowed the subsequent action on the field. All the suspended trio have been interviewed by British police and Pakistan seamer Wahab Riaz, still in the one-day squad, is due to be questioned by detectives next week. While ICC and police investigations continue, the dual effect of negative headlines and poor gate receipts has pushed the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) towards blocking the use of their venues for more matches to follow Pakistan's series against Australia earlier this year. This would leave the Pakistani team with nowhere else to play "home" fixtures other than Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where they are scheduled to meet South Africa next year. The ECB had harboured thoughts of hosting matches between Pakistan and India in the British Isles, but those plans, alongside more modest ones to host a one day series between the Pakistanis and Sri Lanka, have now been shelved. "Nobody is thinking about that one any more," an ECB official told London's Sunday Telegraph. Although a number of figures including Australian captain Ricky Ponting have urged the international community to not shun Pakistan for the alleged corruption of four players, it seems inevitable that the country will be treated harshly. Despite the fact, security problems and the disastrous consequences of recent flooding have left Pakistan in more need of support than ever. Gone is much of the goodwill that allowed the scheduling of the Tests against Australia, dubbed the "spirit of cricket series" by an optimistic ICC earlier in the year. Pakistan's torturous tour of England goes on, meanwhile, with Captain Shahid Afridi arguing that there was still time to salvage some respect from the rubble. "We all want to go home with respect," said Afridi, ahead of the second one-day international at Headingley on Sunday. "We want to play some good cricket and get some victories. "Yesterday (Friday) the performance was much better, not 100 per cent, but I was quite happy with the efforts from the boys." But he admitted it was difficult to remain upbeat with such a pall hanging over the squad. "We all know we are playing in a very tough situation, but we are trying to forget everything that is going on. "It's not easy, but everyone is looking to us and we need to keep our image."

Pakistan ready to play 2nd ODI in Headingley

LONDON: Pakistan will play its second ODI match out of a five matches series in Headingley today (Sunday). Both teams have reached Leeds. Pakistan captain, Shahid Afridi, termed the defeat in the first match as sorrowful. He has said that Pakistan lost by 24 runs owing to irresponsible batting. Afridi added that after the spot fixing scam, Pakistan's bowling has been weakened; taking advantage, England succeeded to make a big score.