Ban Pakistan from cricket, says Ian Botham

[trident2010]

Ban Pakistan from cricket, says Ian Botham


LONDON: Pakistan should be banned from international cricket until corruption allegations against their cricketers have been fully investigated, England great Sir Ian Botham said on Monday.

World cricket has been rocked by allegations that members of Pakistan's team fixed aspects of last month's fourth Test match against England, which led to the suspensions of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer.

Further allegations against Pakistan emerged over the weekend following their team's one-day victory over England on Friday.

The new allegations have triggered a bitter war of words between officials from the two cricket nations, with England's players expressing "outrage" at suggestions from Pakistan chairman Ijaz Butt they were involved in corruption.

Now Botham believes Pakistan should be thrown out of the sport altogether. Asked directly if he felt Pakistan should be banned, Botham replied: "In my opinion, yes. We keep sweeping things under the carpet -- enough is enough.

"The public pay the money to come and watch the game. What do they do if a catch goes down or someone bowls a no-ball? What are they thinking? Enough is enough."

Botham also rubbished Butt's allegations concerning England's players, which the Pakistan official claimed to have discovered from "bookies' circles".

"I would like to know how Ijaz Butt knows what the bookmakers are doing. Maybe he should tell us something," Botham remarked.

"It's appalling, it's farcical and it's gone on for too long now. It needs to be stamped out. If you have a cancerous problem you get to the root of it.

"If it means giving guys amnesty, saying, 'Come clean, guys, tell us what happened, then we'll move on', whether they have to serve a ban -- that's for the ICC.

"The ICC need to wake up, they need to get off their backsides. From what I can see they haven't done very much at all."



Ban Pakistan from cricket, says Ian Botham - The Times of India

 

[Imran Khan]

good please ban it i hate my nation waste there time on matches which are fixed already.

 

[Illusive]

Probably harsh, cricket can't afford to ban Pakistan, its not huge like soccer. But PCB should take responsibilities of selecting players who have a clean background and take strict actions against the culprits of the game like permanent ban to let the youngsters have some fear.

But if this saga continues then for the spirit of the game, Pakistan may be banned.

 

[Ahmad]

Did anybody watch Imran Khan's interview with BBC awhile ago. He looked very disappointed and hopless.

 

[Illusive]

England players were paid to lose against Pak: PCB chief Ijaz Butt

In a sensational verbal attack on England's cricketers, Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ijaz Butt has said that instead of Pakistani players, Andrew Strauss' men should be probed as some of them were "paid enormous amounts of money" to lose the under-investigation ODI at the Oval.

"There is loud and clear talk in the bookies circle that some English players were paid enormous amounts of money to lose the match," he told 'Duniya' television.

"No wonder there was a total collapse of the English side. We won the match and we are under suspicion. England lost, their players should be investigated.”

"A team that wins a match does not fix it," he fumed while talking to a local TV channel here.

Butt reiterated that allegations of spot-fixing against Pakistani players are part of a conspiracy to defame the team.

"There are rumours in the bookmaking circle about English players betting. They say there is a conspiracy to defraud the bookies, we think this is a conspiracy to defraud Pakistan cricket.

England players were paid to lose against Pak: PCB chief Ijaz Butt

 

[Urbanized Greyhound]

Now even a respected great like Ian Botham joins the " ban pakistan " bandwagon.....the PCB really needs to get its act together big time......no wonder Imran Khan , Wasim and the rest of the stalwarts look on helplessly.....

 

[Ahmad]

England players were paid to lose against Pak: PCB chief Ijaz Butt

I saw this on the BBC, but is it true of just a make up story?

 

[Spring Onion]

I saw this on the BBC, but is it true of just a make up story?

Ahmad the yellow tabloid Sun claimed that third match was fixed by Pakistani players but wonder if they can fix it for wining then indeed the onus is on Englishmen for Throwing the match to Pakistan deliberately

Isnt it

 

[Illusive]

Match-fixing: ECB may sue PCB chief

London: The England and Wales Cricket Board has threatened legal action against PCB chief Ijaz Butt after his remarks that English players may have thrown a one-day international in return for an 'enormous' sum of cash.

The English team, which takes on Pakistan in the fourth ODI on Monday, was dismayed and outraged at the comments made by Butt and refuted all charges of match-fixing.

"We would like to express surprise, dismay and outrage at the comments made by Mr Butt," players said in a statement. "We are deeply concerned that our integrity as cricketers has been brought into question"

"We refute these allegations completely," the statement said, adding, "We will work closely with ECB to explore all legal options."

The PCB had earlier cited bookies to point a finger at English cricketers for the batting collapse that cost England Friday's ODI at the Oval. He said the PCB is investigating a conspiracy, involving cricket bodies, to defame Pakistan cricket.

But the tourists, already accused of spot-fixing in a previous Test match, are now under new investigation by the International Cricket Council (ICC) over a suspicious scoring pattern in the Oval game.

In a remarkable intervention, Butt attempted to deflect suspicion back onto the England side. Butt told CNN-IBN that he is going to talk to the ICC about this.

He also said that the latest allegations have no proof. The PCB chairman said that he and the ECB don't get along any more and when he asked about the identity of the bookie who was involved he was only told that it was an Asian bookie.

"There is loud and clear talk in the bookie circle that some English players were paid enormous amounts of money to lose the (Oval) match," the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board told The Guardian. "No wonder there was total collapse of the English side," he said.

Britain's The Sun tabloid claimed to have been made aware of details of Pakistan's innings before the match had got underway. The paper tipped off the ICC, which then watched as the scoring patterns in two suspect overs emerged as predicted, The Sun said.

Match-fixing: ECB may sue PCB chief - News - Cricket Next

 

[Spring Onion]

bwahahahahhahah goras are on fire

---------- Post added at 06:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:21 PM ----------

We should sue Ian botham for his diatribe

 

[Mirza Jatt]

banning pakistan would be a big blow to the world cicket...its out of question, but at the same time some solid steps has to be taken to keep Pakistan cricket safe...formation of a new board for Pakistan or changes in PCB might help, as they have failed to curb this menace...Ifts under ICC then let ICC take the decision or if its under the domain of Pakistan Govt. let the Govt take decision.

 

[Ahmad]

Ahmad the yellow tabloid Sun claimed that third match was fixed by Pakistani players but wonder if they can fix it for wining then indeed the onus is on Englishmen for Throwing the match to Pakistan deliberately

Isnt it

to be honest with you i dont pay any attention when it comes to cricket, but it has been all over the place in this forum and some reports on the BBC/Sky so i opened a few pages to see what is happening in this part of the world. In case of england i dont know, but against the paksitani players they had some videos/pictures showing the players withe money etc. If these players are really guilty, i think peoople should stop defending them as it will be good for paksitan. I liked Imran khan's interview, he made some good points.

 

[desiman]

Thanks to the stupidity of Ijaz Butt, Pakistan has now lost the few friends it has in the cricketing world. England will probably not host any of Pakistan's matches and no other country would want to also. Ijaz Butt has put the final nails in the coffin of Pakistani cricket, banning is probably the best way to go now.

 

[Spring Onion]

Thanks to the stupidity of Ijaz Butt, Pakistan has now lost the few friends it has in the cricketing world. England will probably not host any of Pakistan's matches and no other country would want to also. Ijaz Butt has put the final nails in the coffin of Pakistani cricket, banning is probably the best way to go now.

bhartis are airing this wish of banning Pakistani cricket anyway that would be the bharti way and not neutral.

Let the investigation complete and punish those who are responsible. Pakistan Cricket team is NOT at all responsible for punishing a country without any wrong is WRONG.

As far as Englishmen's anger is concerned we can say the same about useless allegations by them which are NOT yet proven.

The Sun is king of yellow and i wonder without investigation Ian botham was opening his mouth. Not a civilized way but then Englishmen were never meant to be true always the conspirators .


BTW SA said it is not going to postpone its series with Pakistan

 

[Kinetic]

Very poor move by Mr. Butt. He should take strong action against those found guilty. That would be good for both Pakistan and cricket. Instead such statement made issues more complicated.


Pakistan should never be banned very few countries play good cricket, say 6/7 countries... Australia, India, Pakistan, South Africa, England, Sri Lanka etc.... Banning Pakistan will make the scope of cricket more smaller and less enjoyable.

BTW already lost great interest in cricket earlier I had due to fancy IPL glamor and now this.

Last enjoyed India-Pakistan match in Asia cup.