3rd One Day was fixed: British media reports

[Moin91]

Pakistan rejects corruption allegations

Saturday, 18 Sep, 2010

LONDON: Fresh allegations of spot-fixing by Pakistan players following Friday's third one-day international against England appear to be false, Pakistan Cricket Board legal adviser Tafazzul Rizvi said on Saturday.

“At this stage we don't believe these latest allegations that our players did any fixing in the third one-day match against England,” Rizvi told Reuters in Karachi.

“We feel at this stage these allegations appear unfounded.”

Earlier, International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Haroon Lorgat said the world governing body was investigating the match after receiving information from a British newspaper alleging a suspicious scoring pattern in Pakistan's innings.

“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 inquiry 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.”

Several Pakistani officials criticised the ICC for making its investigation public before anything was proved and said there was a conspiracy to put pressure on the team.

The England and Wales Cricket Board said it would meet on Saturday to discuss the investigation. Pakistan won the third game in the five-match series by 23 runs at the Oval.

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. The trio have said they are innocent.

British police, who are also investigating the spot-fixing allegations, questioned a fourth player, Wahab Riaz, last week.

AFRIDI EXPRESSES SURPRISE

Rizvi said the latest allegations did not weaken the case of the three suspended players.

“After these investigations are over we are definitely considering filing damages against newspapers who have made these allegations,” Rizvi said.

Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi told the Geo Super channel that he was surprised by the reports.

“I just get this feeling there is an attempt to bring the team under pressure. If anyone has any evidence that there was anything wrong in the match it should be presented first before allegations are made. It adds to the pressure on the players,” Afridi said.

Iqbal Mohammad, the chairman of the National Assembly standing committee on sports, asked why the ICC had not reacted once it had prior information that there would be spot-fixing.

“I get this feeling now there is a definite conspiracy to damage and isolate Pakistan cricket,” he told Reuters.

“Without anything being proven first I don't understand what prompted the ICC to issue a press release.”

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.” -Reuters


DAWN.COM | Cricket | Pakistan rejects corruption allegations

 

[SandsofTime]

Pakistan chairman accuses English players of throwing third ODI

Ijaz Butt Ijaz Butt, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman says England players should be investigated for deliberately losing a one-day game.

The Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, Ijaz Butt, has accused English players of throwing the third one-day international last Friday. In a television interview, Butt said: "There is loud and clear talk in the bookies circle that some English players were paid enormous amounts of money to lose the match. No wonder there was a total collapse of the English side." Relations between the two teams, who will play the fourth one-day international at Lord's tomorrow, were already strained. They will now be at their nadir.

The International Cricket Council confirmed yesterday that no England players were under investigation. The ICC has launched an inquiry into the match, which Pakistan won by 23 runs after England lost five wickets for 17 runs, because it received a tip-off from The Sun newspaper that run rates during certain parts of the Pakistan innings broadly corresponded to predictions made by bookmakers.

Butt said: "This is not a conspiracy to defraud bookmakers, it is a conspiracy to defraud Pakistan and Pakistan cricket.

"We have taken it in hand to start our own investigations. We will shortly reveal the names of the people, the parties and the bodies involved in this sinister conspiracy and we also reserve the right to sue them for damages. We won the match and we are under suspicion. England lost, their players should be investigated. You don't lose a match if you are doing fixing. We have co-operated so far with all this investigation but after the third ODI we get this feeling it is not a conspiracy to defraud bookies but to defraud Pakistan cricket."

When asked if he had any proof of the allegations regarding English players, Butt said: "Did you ask the other people who made allegations against our players whether they had proof? What did they say? We have thought about this properly and we have positive proofs here before us just like they say they have also."

He also complained that he felt "the media in certain countries is biased and not fair" and in a clear attack on the ICC he added that the PCB "feel august cricket bodies are also involved in this conspiracy, which will damage the great game of cricket."

The PCB had already made it clear they were unhappy with the way the ICC had handled the accusations made about the match, complaining that "it only came to know through the media that investigations would be conducted by the ICC" and "condemning the "sensationalizing of these allegations."

The England and Wales Cricket Board last night was considering whether to comment on Butt's claims.

Pakistan chairman accuses English players of throwing third ODI | Sport | The Guardian

 

[Spring Onion]

hey isnt The Sun a yellow tabloid ?

 

[JanjaWeed]

hey isnt The Sun a yellow tabloid ?

just to let you know sun is a part of NOTW, from the same publishers. From monday to saturday it's sun & on sunday it's NOTW. They rarely they go after cricketers.. normally they prey on footballers. then again it's the season for them. At the moment cricket sells due to the adverse publicity & they are making most of it. btw you have colour coded newpapers countrywise..hey?? mostly people buy sun here to look at the 3rd page!! it's true!!

 

[MastanKhan]

Hi,

What has happened over here is that the indian bookies are hoping mad at the pakistanis.

If you can make a computer generated program of pakistan innings over the years and create scenariors given the pitch condtion and the circumstances they are playing under--the bookies can come pretty darn close to guessing the out come .

Pak plays the 50 over game in a certain pattern and that has not changed over the years. 35---40 overs are tradintionally pretty slow for scoring---if they have wickets---they will make a go in the last ten overs---if not then in the last five overs---even wild prediction can come true.

Technically---there is no pakistani who could do that under these circumstances---.

If I reverse the position---replace them with india---none of the indian players would do something like this---or players of any other nation---.

Simply put---no player in the world has a death wish.

Remember---when you are down---all odds are stacked against you.

 

[Hyde]

Hi,

What has happened over here is that the indian bookies are hoping mad at the pakistanis.

If you can make a computer generated program of pakistan innings over the years and create scenariors given the pitch condtion and the circumstances they are playing under--the bookies can come pretty darn close to guessing the out come .

Pak plays the 50 over game in a certain pattern and that has not changed over the years. 35---40 overs are tradintionally pretty slow for scoring---if they have wickets---they will make a go in the last ten overs---if not then in the last five overs---even wild prediction can come true.

Technically---there is no pakistani who could do that under these circumstances---.

If I reverse the position---replace them with india---none of the indian players would do something like this---or players of any other nation---.

Simply put---no player in the world has a death wish.

Remember---when you are down---all odds are stacked against you.

post of the month......very well said sir...loved it

 

[Pakistani_Athiest]

Why is it that everyone wants to target "only" Pakistan?

 

[SMC]

The title of this thread is an oxymoron. If the 3rd ODI was fixed, it was England that fixed it, not Pakistan. F*ck, the lack of some rationality and logic being displayed is seriously disturbing, particularly by the ICC.

 

[SpArK]

Butt has shot himself in both feet

Pakistan editor, Cricinfo


The PCB chief's statements attacking a board that has worked hard to bring international cricket to Pakistan are beyond the boundaries of sanity. But the ICC is also to blame






Ijaz Butt is not a tabloid. Even if he had been one, then hurling accusations at another team for having thrown a match probably wouldn't have passed for acceptable behaviour. He would have been chided for not going to the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit or police officials first and handing over some proof before revealing all; chided, that is, for not following a process.

No, Butt is not a tabloid. He is the sitting board chairman of a full member of the ICC. To say what he has said publicly scrapes even the barrel of unacceptable social decorum. To do so to the team of a board whose chairman has gone out of his way to help, as Giles Clarke has over the last year, is outside the bounds of sane behaviour.

Clarke heads the ICC's task force on bringing cricket back to Pakistan; he has pushed the idea of an international XI playing here. In September's Wisden Cricketer, Clarke writes knowledgeably and with some passion of the importance of international cricket returning to Pakistan. If a slap in the face was acceptable as a return for favours, then here is Butt's response.

Forget Clarke: what is the chairman saying to his own team? "Sorry Gul and company, that super win of yours, against all odds, from an unwinnable position and all that? Sorry, that was only because the other team might have thrown it." And it should be worrying, very worrying, that the debate Butt is starting displays a total lack of understanding of the nuances of modern fixing. How can Pakistan be blamed for fixing when they lose and when they win, asks Butt. If he doesn't know - or chooses to ignore - the irrelevance of spot-fixing to the ultimate result of a match, harder times lie in wait.

To be kind, it is understandable that the PCB feels under siege. The second set of allegations from the Sun feels considerably less substantial than the first. Scoring patterns, a few overs, dons in Dubai and Delhi, a source; compared to the News Of The World, this is all very inexact. Other papers in the UK have also speculated wildly and often inaccurately.

A breed under siege needs to hit back, to retaliate. And retaliation, if you feel you've been genuinely wronged, can be justified and useful. But a basic minimum requirement is to identify the correct target. It wasn't Clarke or the ECB who started this. It was a tabloid. Sue them for defamation, take them to court. Launch an investigation against them. Is the ICC's executive the target? Speak to other ICC members about it. Develop a consensus, build a coalition, make friends, influence people. Take them to court if you really feel the need. Ranting from this kind of a written statement is not retaliation, unless shooting yourself in the head is an acceptable form of retaliation.

The PCB may well even have a fair bone or two to pick with the ICC. The suits at the ICC's head office are more expensive these days. The interiors of their offices are flashier too. Overall the edifice is slicker. And they still can't, in this day and age, do something as basic as getting in touch with two leading boards to let them know that they are about to release a very significant statement that concerns a match their sides have just played. Neither the PCB nor the ECB, as is apparent from their stances, were told this statement was coming out.

The ICC claimed it tried to contact Butt all day on Friday before releasing the statement on Saturday morning. Butt was in Delhi, having met Sharad Pawar earlier in the week. Pawar is the president of the ICC. Butt and Pawar's meeting was widely reported around the world, on ESPNcricinfo, on TV in India and Pakistan, and by wire agencies.

The ICC, it appears, remarkably, was unaware of this meeting so they tried Butt on his phone, one that, because he was in India and because there is no roaming cellular service between the two countries, was unavailable. The ICC did not think to contact someone at the PCB HQ in Lahore, the spokesman perhaps, the chairman's assistant, the chief operating officer, or the GM cricket operations - both of the latter are regular ICC meeting attendees - to leave with them a message, or Lord help us, to find a way of contacting Butt.

Should the ICC have released a statement at all? On balance, if they hadn't, then a tabloid-fuelled frenzy of speculation and accusation could've been worse. Should they have done so without consulting either board? Absolutely not.



Newspapers don't run conspiracies, they run a business, which requires them to make money by selling more papers. And the ICC governs a sport that has fewer full, elite members than a human has fingers. By getting rid of Pakistan, it makes its own sport considerably less competitive

None of this - the ICC's incompetence, or even the allegations of the Sun - constitute, however, a "conspiracy to defraud Pakistan". It is a neat bit of wordplay (surprisingly neat actually), cynically designed to win over local opinion numbed into buying such theories instead of looking inwards. To one channel, in his wide-ranging assault, Butt said the purpose of the PCB's investigation was to prove to people in Pakistan that the board should not be blamed for this, as they have been equally since the Lord's Test.

A reality check is needed. Why would anyone conspire against Pakistan? To bring them down from the giddy heights of sixth in the Test and seventh in the ODI rankings?



But how much longer can it go on? The PCB's relationship with the ICC has broken down entirely, that much is clear. Furthermore Butt has ensured that what few friends the PCB has are swiftly being lost. South Africa, privately, are making noises about playing Pakistan. New Zealand might do soon. More neutral Tests in England are unlikely. India is hostage to political winds.

If the darkest day in Pakistan's cricket actually does come, and talk of giving Pakistan a temporary break becomes reality, it will not be the result of any conspiracy. It will be the result of the worst administration ever to have run cricket in this land.

Osman Samiuddin is Pakistan editor of Cricinfo

Feeds: Osman Samiuddin
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.



Osman Samiuddin: Ijaz Butt has shot himself in both feet | Opinion | Cricinfo Magazine | Cricinfo.com

 

[SpArK]

Angry England hit back at Butt remarks
ESPNcricinfo staff
September 20, 2010

The England & Wales Cricket Board has announced that it will be taking legal action against Ijaz Butt, the chairman of the PCB, after describing his allegations that England's players accepted a bribe to lose the third ODI at The Oval as "wholly irresponsible and completely without foundation".

However, in a strongly-worded statement on behalf of the ECB and the England team, it was announced that the final two matches of Pakistan's tour would go ahead as planned. "It remains in the best interests of world cricket, the players and in particular of cricket supporters that the tour should continue, and it would set a dangerous precedent to call off a tour based on the misguided and inaccurate remarks made by one individual."

Butt's allegations were of such extraordinary gravity that the ECB waited almost 24 hours before formulating its official response, and their statement was only issued after a lengthy meeting between the ECB and Team England, which stretched late into Sunday night. Present at the discussions were the ECB's chairman Giles Clarke, the CEO David Collier, the managing director of England Cricket, Hugh Morris, and the England Captain and Coach, Andrew Strauss and Andrew Flower, who went on to have a subsequent meeting with all of the England team.

"The team deplores and rejects unreservedly the suggestion that any England cricketer was involved in manipulating the outcome, or any individual element, of the third NatWest Series ODI at the Brit Insurance Oval between England and Pakistan last week," read a statement issued on behalf of the England team. "The players fully understand their responsibilities as representatives of their country, and would not countenance giving less than 100% in any match they play."

In the circumstances, England's players were, by the admission of their captain, Andrew Strauss, extremely reluctant to complete the series, and the rawness of the emotions between the two sides was demonstrated by an altercation in the Nursery Ground nets shortly before the start of the the Lord's ODI, between Jonathan Trott and Wahab Riaz. There had been some speculation that the toss would be delayed as a result, but the game eventually got underway as scheduled.

"We would like to express our surprise, dismay and outrage at the comments made by Mr Butt yesterday," said Strauss. "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.

"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, recognise 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."

Angus Porter, Chief Executive of the PCA, added: "The players appreciate the difficult position the ECB finds itself in, and is fully supportive of the actions taken by the Board, along with the ICC, to ensure all allegations of wrong-doing are properly investigated and acted upon. We will continue to cooperate closely with the ECB, with the aim of ensuring that the work to root out corruption is not derailed by mischievous attempts to detract attention from the real issues."

The ECB reiterated its faith in the integrity of its players by expressing its gratitude for the "outstanding conduct" of the players since the first allegations surfaced against the Pakistan team during the fourth Test at Lord's, and added that it would be taking "all legal and disciplinary action which may result from Mr Butt's comments".

"The ECB will continue to offer ICC its full support in taking the strongest possible action against all areas of corruption and is pledged to offering the ACSU its full support at all times," continued the statement. "Given the current sensitivities surrounding this issue, ECB believes it is imperative that any serious allegations made against another team or player should be presented through the proper channels to the ACSU. Both ECB and Team England view the comments made by Mr Butt as defamatory and not based in fact.

Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport and the Olympics, said: "I welcome the decision by England to play the last two games of this tour. It is a pragmatic decision that is in the best interests of world cricket."

© ESPN EMEA Ltd.


Angry England hit back at Butt remarks | Cricket News | England v Pakistan 2010 | Cricinfo.com

 

[devgupt]

Butt denies he has match-fixing proof | Cricket365 | Cricket News

Butt denies that he has match fixing proof.

 

[Super Falcon]

south africans and english board is making too much noice as we all know these south africans are indian agents we should ban pakistan team to play with african team yes we have some probleums but these who is making worst for us

 

[SpArK]

south africans and english board is making too much noice as we all know these south africans are indian agents we should ban pakistan team to play with african team yes we have some probleums but these who is making worst for us

Ijaz butt was in Delhi last week .. i think he is also an Indian agent.. You guys need to protest big time now against him too.

Could be a RAW agent.

 

[Super Falcon]

yes for sure he is who is saying he is not yes

 

[F86 Saber]

You know the funniest thing about this conspiracy is that if you think about what the English Media is claiming you realize that they are saying that the English team are such pushovers that when they won it was only because Pakistan wanted to loose and when Pakistan wanted to win they could easily beat them.