TAUNTON: Tainted trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir have been dropped by the Pakistan Cricket Board from the limited-overs leg of the England tour, according to team manager Yawar Saeed. Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed said that new replacement players will be called in for the series. The players accused of spot-fixing during the Lord’’s Test missed a practice game against Somerset in Taunton to meet with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and International Cricket Council (ICC) officials and senior diplomats. Captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif have been implicated in the scandal following a sting operation by British tabloid ”News of The World”. Pakistan lost the four-Test series against England 1-3 last week at Lord’’s where the finale was overshadowed by the ‘’spot-fixing” scandal. Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, the three Pakistan players who are at the centre of the spot-fixing controversy have been dropped; however, they had not, been suspended. The three players are currently in London, where they are due to meet Pakistan’’s high commissioner to the UK. The PCB chairman, Ijaz Butt, is expected to be at that meeting. Speaking in Taunton, where the Pakistan team are to play a warm-up match later on Thursday, Saeed said he had taken the decision, and also called for three replacements. “The T20 squad will remain what it is here this morning, i.e. 13 people,” Saeed said. “When we play the one-day internationals we will be asking for replacements to make the squad up to 16.” The decision comes after several rounds of meetings between Ijaz Butt, ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat and officials of the ECB, at which the PCB is believed to have been advised that the players should not take part in the rest of the tour.
Written on September 2, 2010 | Posted in
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LONDON: Pakistan Cricket Board said Tuesday it would not suspend top players accused over a betting scam while the claims are probed, but reports suggest they will not play the rest of the tour in England. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has promised “prompt and decisive action” if the allegations made by a British Sunday newspaper are proven, insisting that corruption would not be tolerated. Pakistani authorities have also promised severe punishment but the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said Tuesday it would not suspend any players while police investigated the players. “Chairman Ijaz Butt just told me that since there is a case going on with the Scotland Yard we are not going to suspend any player,” a PCB spokesman said. “He further said that this is only an allegation so far. There is still no charge or proof on that account. So at this stage there will be no action taken.” According to British media reports, the players named in the News of the World allegations — captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Asif and Kamran Akmal — are unlikely to play in the series of one-day internationals against England. The Pakistan team begin their preparation for the one-day series, which follows the Test series in which the alleged betting scam took place, with a practice match against English county Somerset on Thursday. The first one-day match against England is on Sunday. The News of the World, a British Sunday tabloid, alleged that a middleman took 150,000 pounds (230,000 dollars, 185,000 euros) to arrange for Pakistani players to deliberately bowl the no-balls. The Daily Telegraph newspaper said it understood that the ICC had asked the Pakistan authorities for the four players cited in the allegations to be dropped from the squad, although no official request has been made. Other British press reports said the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) was adamant that the players at the centre of the allegations should be omitted from the one-day series. Citing an ICC source, it also reported that the same players had been under investigation for months by their anti-corruption unit.
Written on August 31, 2010 | Posted in
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’’s top crime investigative agency will send a team to Britain this week to probe corruption allegations against some of the country’’s cricket players, a senior official said on Tuesday. Investigations by British police and the International Cricket Council (ICC) are already underway into a newspaper report alleging three Pakistan players had been bribed to fix incidents in last week’’s fourth test against England. London police have confiscated the mobile phones of test captain Salman Butt as well as pace bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, and the trio — plus wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal — have been questioned at the team’’s hotel. A senior official at the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Karachi said the three-member team was likely to leave for London on Wednesday and planned to meet British police and players. The Pakistan team arrived in Taunton in west England on Monday to play a warm-up game for a seven-match one-day series against England, which starts on Sunday. Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt said the players being investigated would not be suspended without proof of wrongdoing, however. “There is a case going on over here with Scotland Yard,” Ijaz told website cricinfo.com. “This is only an allegation. There is still no charge or proof on that account. So at this stage there will be no action taken.” The ICC’’s anti-corruption unit has been asked to submit a report on its investigation within the next three days. ICC president Sharad Pawar said on Monday the issue had been discussed in a teleconference by the head of the council’’s anti-corruption unit Ravi Sawani, Ijaz and his English counterpart Giles Clarke. “We at the ICC are waiting for definite information from the PCB and our own anti-corruption unit. We hope to get something in the next two to three days” time and that information would lead to appropriate action, if required,” he said. Pawar has ruled out the possibility of Pakistan cutting short their tour of England. ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said anti-corruption officials were also helping London police with their investigation and would ensure “appropriate punishments” for any players found guilty. “We will not tolerate corruption in this great game,” Lorgat said in a statement. On Monday, the police said they had released on bail a 35-year-old man who had been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers following the report in Britain’’s News of the World newspaper. According to the report, Mazhar Majeed, an agent who claimed to represent 10 Pakistan players including Butt, said Amir and Asif had bowled three no-balls between them by pre-arrangement in the fourth test against England which finished on Sunday. The report also cast doubt on the second test between Pakistan and Australia in Sydney this year when Australia made a remarkable comeback to win by 36 runs after overcoming a 206-run first-innings deficit.
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Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who has been under attack for taking a foreign trip while his country was struggling to cope with devastating floods, has defended his tour, saying that he was doing his best to help his troubled countrymen.
Written on August 12, 2010 | Posted in
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DALLAS: The chairman of Pakistan Tehrike Insaf has said today that president Zardari was enjoying on the people’s money. In the hotel in London in which he would stay during his tour of Europe, the rent of his room for one day is Rs 2 million, he said. Besides, another hefty amount of Rs.6 million is being spent on the ceremony to induct his son Bilawal Bhutto in Pakistan’s politics. He was addressing a fund raising mass gathering organized by Tehrike Insaf local chapter in American city of Dallas. He said that our country was undergoing a very critical situation and we are responsible for that, becuase the biggest criminal was no one else but the president of Pakistan himself, who has also employed a team of crooks and criminals in the cabinet and has imposed upon the people. He opined that the honorable nations under such tyranny conditions always agitate. However, under a persistent fear people refrain from entering politics. Pakistan politicians should deter of the point at which the nation starts revolution.
Written on August 6, 2010 | Posted in
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North made a century and a 90 on the tour of New Zealand in March, but since the start of the Australian summer his big scores have become less frequent. Smith, on the other hand, lit up the Headingle…
Written on July 24, 2010 | Posted in
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that he was going to resign as Pakistan captain after one Test in charge. Probably the most stunned man at Lord's was Salman Butt, the Pakistani opener and vice-captain on this tour, who followed Afri…
Written on July 17, 2010 | Posted in
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LONDON: Following the 13th consecutive defeat of Pakistan from Australia in Test cricket, chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ijaz Butt has called Mohammad Yousuf for the tour of England. Sources said that the PCB chairman has asked former captain Yousuf to take back retirement on which the veteran batsman agreed in the interest of the country and the nation. It may be recalled that Yousuf was banned for an indefinite period after the tour of Australia after which he announced to retire from all forms of cricket. After the two-Test series against Australia in England, Pakistan cricket team will play a four-Test series against England.
Written on July 16, 2010 | Posted in
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Salman Butt needs a better opening partner
LONDON: Pakistan fast bowling great Wasim Akram believes new pace sensation Mohammad Aamer is “much cleverer than I was at 18″ after watching the teenage quick’’s latest impressive Test display.. Aamer, like Wasim a left-arm seamer, took four wickets for 72 runs as he led Pakistan’’s attack in the ongoing first Test against Australia here at Lord’’s in his first Test at the ”home of cricket”. After seeing Aamer wrap up Australia’’s first innings on Wednesday by bowling tailender Doug Bollinger with an inswinging yorker, an admiring Wasim told media: “It was exciting to watch Aamer bowl so well at Lord’’s. “He is a special talent and has pace, nip and can swing the ball both ways which is ideal for a paceman, and augurs well for his future. Aamer has risen by leaps and bounds to become Pakistan’’s spearhead since making his debut last year and served further notice of his enormous potential with another impressive display at Lord’’s. His efforts, ably supported by pace partner Mohammad Asif (three for 63), helped a new-look Pakistan team dismiss Australia for 253 on the second day of the first of two Tests that have both been moved to England because of security fears in Pakistan. The 18-year-old Aamer’’s pace, swing and exuberance have already led experts to compare Aamer with Wasim, widely regarded as the best left-arm fast bowler ever to have played international cricket. But Wasim said Aamer was already ahead of him in one respect. “He is much cleverer than when I was 18,” said Wasim who took ten wickets in his only second Test, against New Zealand at Dunedin in 1984. “Aamer has got a head start and is a quick learner, so I see no reason why he can”t go on to become a leading fast bowler. “He is already spearheading the Pakistan pace attack and watching him bowl (on Tuesday), everything pitched up, banging in every delivery and testing the best batsmen in the world excited me no end.” Wasim though advised Aamer to bowl closer to the stumps. “What I noticed at Lord’’s and in the series in Australia (wrapped up earlier this year where Aamer starred despite Pakistan’’s 3-0 Test campaign defeat) is that he bowls wide of the crease. “That may help the ball to come in (to right handers), but on slower tracks it won”t work, so he needs to bowl closer to the stumps,” Wasim explained. “Some people say his physique is not that of a fast bowler, but he is only 18. He can strengthen his muscles with time and I am sure he will spend more time in the gym,” said Wasim, who took 414 Test and 502 one-day wickets — both Pakistani records. “I have not seen him recently but I”m always happy to meet him and pass on a few tips.” Wasim hoped Aamer’’s experience of England pitches with the Pakistan Under-19 team in 2007 would come in handy. “Aamer took quite a few wickets when he toured England with the Under-19 team in 2007, so I think he will be very useful on this tour, with four Tests against England as well, and lead Pakistan to wins.” Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja also praised Aamer’’s progress. “I think Aamer is more mature than Wasim at 18,” said Raja, in England as a television commentator. “Aamer’’s progress augurs well for Pakistan and I hope he continues to work hard and take the Pakistan team forward.” Aamer was on Wednesday warned about his future conduct by match referee Chris Broad after he collided with Australia captain Ricky Ponting while celebrating his wicket in the first Test at Lord’’s.
Written on July 15, 2010 | Posted in
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