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Proteas 'will play' Pakistan in UAE: Smith
Colombo: South African captain Graeme Smith, not one to beat around the ever-prickly Protea bush, motif of the national sports teams, says there will be a series of games against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates.
He also says that it is up to all the international players to see that the sport cleans up its act and "get rid of the current image that has tainted cricket through the series of allegations" (most of which involve Pakistan players and bookies during their now discredited tour of England with additional claims of infiltration by bookies).
While there may be a group of senior South African players and their players association who are unhappy with the thought of playing a scandal-hit team in a series of two Tests, five ODIS and a couple of misfit T20s in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the tour is going ahead. He declined though to comment on how a group of unnamed senior players were unhappy to play the tainted Pakistanis.
Talking on the BBC Channel, Test Match Special, during the dinner break of the fourth NatWest limited-overs game at Lords, which Pakistan went on to win and level the series, Smith came across positively when he said the tour would be going ahead.
"All I can say now is that come October 24, we will be boarding a flight to the Dubai (where we will play Pakistan)," he confirmed when asked the question on the TMS programme.
Smith said it had been hard "not to escape" the daily headlines breaking around the on-going scandal hit tour on England by the Pakistan team since News of The World broke the initial match-fixing story that involves players Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir and their sleazy soccer club owner Mazhar Majeed who says he has seven Pakistan players on his books.
I have always been a competitive player and so are members of the side that I lead, the South African captain said. We have to (also) trust those in the ICC (International Cricket Council) and their efforts to pursue their role in moving the game forward and the sport competitive and rid it of the image it is getting.
It is up to them to make the right decisions regarding the players and the onus that we (as players) have towards the game and that play competitively and show this in the way we play the game, he added. We are professional players and we need to display this in the way we conduct ourselves.
South Africas have made meticulous preparation for the UAE visit to play Pakistan with the teams logistics manager, Goolam Raja, visiting the venues in Dubai and Abu Dhabi with CSA chief executive Gerald (Gailor) Majola, confirming it would be going ahead, this despite the wary views of several senior players over the advisement of such a tour. Their main concern is how bookies in the UAE can still play a disruptive role in the way the games are played through spot fixing.
Cricket South Africa have long had a strong anti-corruption player education programme in place since 2000 exposure of former captain Hansie Cronje and what emerged from the commission of inquiry headed by Justice Edwin King. There have long been strong arguments that the hasty closing down of the commission into the wide malpractice issues that emerged has enabled the seedy types like Majeed to infiltrate the system as so-called agents with ulterior motives, as M K Gupta in the 1990s.
The facts of the King Commission case are simple enough and a lesson that should have been learnt, but the ICCs anti-corruption and security unit lost its momentum and the result is what is now being experienced.
The commission was the first serious attempts to root corruption out of world cricket. Unfortunately, the judge's best efforts were obstructed at the time the investigators were about to make a breakthrough. It is even more unfortunate that the commission terms of reference were heavily restricted and was able to investigate only a small part of what was a worldwide racket.
The South African government of Thabo Mbeki, through its Department of Sport, under the heavyweight blustering Ngconde Balfour, appeared interested only in finding a convenient scapegoat. This failed to take place, for although Capn Perfect Cronje, named names and these were banned, Mohammad Azharuddin among them, there was also some uncertainty about how far they could go.
The South African government in July 2002 showed little interest in continuing its funding it and world cricket seemed relieved to see it all go away so that it could continue to make money out of the game. The result, sleazy soccer club owners as Majeed and others, such as Ijaz (Mr Egomaniac) Butt, clowning and protesting innocence of players despite a Scotland Yard report that suggests they are culpable of malpractice acts involving the game.
Proteas 'will play' Pakistan in UAE: Smith - News - Cricket Next
Colombo: South African captain Graeme Smith, not one to beat around the ever-prickly Protea bush, motif of the national sports teams, says there will be a series of games against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates.
He also says that it is up to all the international players to see that the sport cleans up its act and "get rid of the current image that has tainted cricket through the series of allegations" (most of which involve Pakistan players and bookies during their now discredited tour of England with additional claims of infiltration by bookies).
While there may be a group of senior South African players and their players association who are unhappy with the thought of playing a scandal-hit team in a series of two Tests, five ODIS and a couple of misfit T20s in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the tour is going ahead. He declined though to comment on how a group of unnamed senior players were unhappy to play the tainted Pakistanis.
Talking on the BBC Channel, Test Match Special, during the dinner break of the fourth NatWest limited-overs game at Lords, which Pakistan went on to win and level the series, Smith came across positively when he said the tour would be going ahead.
"All I can say now is that come October 24, we will be boarding a flight to the Dubai (where we will play Pakistan)," he confirmed when asked the question on the TMS programme.
Smith said it had been hard "not to escape" the daily headlines breaking around the on-going scandal hit tour on England by the Pakistan team since News of The World broke the initial match-fixing story that involves players Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir and their sleazy soccer club owner Mazhar Majeed who says he has seven Pakistan players on his books.
I have always been a competitive player and so are members of the side that I lead, the South African captain said. We have to (also) trust those in the ICC (International Cricket Council) and their efforts to pursue their role in moving the game forward and the sport competitive and rid it of the image it is getting.
It is up to them to make the right decisions regarding the players and the onus that we (as players) have towards the game and that play competitively and show this in the way we play the game, he added. We are professional players and we need to display this in the way we conduct ourselves.
South Africas have made meticulous preparation for the UAE visit to play Pakistan with the teams logistics manager, Goolam Raja, visiting the venues in Dubai and Abu Dhabi with CSA chief executive Gerald (Gailor) Majola, confirming it would be going ahead, this despite the wary views of several senior players over the advisement of such a tour. Their main concern is how bookies in the UAE can still play a disruptive role in the way the games are played through spot fixing.
Cricket South Africa have long had a strong anti-corruption player education programme in place since 2000 exposure of former captain Hansie Cronje and what emerged from the commission of inquiry headed by Justice Edwin King. There have long been strong arguments that the hasty closing down of the commission into the wide malpractice issues that emerged has enabled the seedy types like Majeed to infiltrate the system as so-called agents with ulterior motives, as M K Gupta in the 1990s.
The facts of the King Commission case are simple enough and a lesson that should have been learnt, but the ICCs anti-corruption and security unit lost its momentum and the result is what is now being experienced.
The commission was the first serious attempts to root corruption out of world cricket. Unfortunately, the judge's best efforts were obstructed at the time the investigators were about to make a breakthrough. It is even more unfortunate that the commission terms of reference were heavily restricted and was able to investigate only a small part of what was a worldwide racket.
The South African government of Thabo Mbeki, through its Department of Sport, under the heavyweight blustering Ngconde Balfour, appeared interested only in finding a convenient scapegoat. This failed to take place, for although Capn Perfect Cronje, named names and these were banned, Mohammad Azharuddin among them, there was also some uncertainty about how far they could go.
The South African government in July 2002 showed little interest in continuing its funding it and world cricket seemed relieved to see it all go away so that it could continue to make money out of the game. The result, sleazy soccer club owners as Majeed and others, such as Ijaz (Mr Egomaniac) Butt, clowning and protesting innocence of players despite a Scotland Yard report that suggests they are culpable of malpractice acts involving the game.
Proteas 'will play' Pakistan in UAE: Smith - News - Cricket Next
![MuZammiL Dr. s[1]n](/data/avatars/m/32/32258.jpg?1370382459){kind=avatar}
now where did this kiss thing come from ..? irreLevant posting ; i'm not surprised as its from an indian .. kids can **** in their panties when they dont find some place suitable 
do youself a favour : just start respecting the national heroes of PakisTan Like shahid afridi or atleast try to respect what they do for our country and our nation 
shahid afridi has done worLds for PakisTan and international cricket ; he is current captain of PakisTan cricket team so just atleast show some cents of respect in this regard regardless of him being hated by you just because he had taken the damm ball in his mouth .. by the way , he has served the i.c.c. punishment for that act , so he is as innocent as a dove
