Pakistan must prove they are not a sick joke
ANDY DUNN
04/09/2010
IF THE Pakistan cricket authorities are looking for a good lawyer to defend their players against the ICC corruption charges, may I suggest Bob Massingberd.
I will let Captain Blackadder wistfully encapsulate Mr Massingberd's qualities.
"I remember Massingberd's most famous case, the case of the bloody knife. A man was found next to a murdered body, he had the knife in his hand, 13 witnesses had seen him stab the victim and when the police arrived he said: 'I'm glad I killed the b******.' Massingberd not only got him off, but got him knighted in the New Year's Honours list, and the relatives of the victim had to pay to have the blood washed out of his jacket."
Still, Pakistani officials blindly defend Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir, and Mohammad Asif.
Leading the ludicrous rearguard action is Wajid Shamsul Hasan.
If he is Pakistan's High Commissioner, I dread to think what the Low Commissioner is like.
This is all a set-up, he ranted. The video was made after the no-balls. The charges are premature. If nothing else, Hasan is comedy gold.
Don't worry, here comes Pakistani team manager Yasser Saaed to the rescue - a guy with an uncanny resemblance to Alan Whicker and most definitely in his own world.
"I have made the decision to leave them (the three accused) out."
This at the same time as Hasan was speaking of the trio, claiming they had been asked to be excused because of 'mental torture'.
The only mental torture was inflicted by the characters who somehow have a say in the running of Pakistani cricket.
PCB chairman Ijaz Butt sat there and claimed the media had 'levelled charges without any truth'.
Maybe I'm biased but the evidence looked pretty compelling to me.
The Pakistani authorities have slipped into their tried and trusted fallback mode. Conspiracy theories.
There is a willingness to help Pakistan cricket in troubled times.
That is what the ICC's Task Force was set up for.
That is why the English Cricket Board have provided a safe haven for a team unable to fulfil its home fixtures because of security concerns. But Pakistan cricket has to help itself first. It doesn't do that by conjuring up fanciful tales of skullduggery.
There is no tangled web of intrigue behind this story.
This is a shameful saga with few complications. Men cheat. Men sell their integrity for a few bucks. Men have no shame. That is the story. Full-stop.
Don't for one minute give me all the bull about impoverished backgrounds and peer pressure.
Rich or poor, Pakistani or English, the difference between good and bad remains the same.
The difference between moral and immoral does not have any class caveats, does not have any financial code. Down-at-heel or well-to-do, you're either willing to cheat or you're not. These guys were willing to cheat.
But you know what? This was actually an opportunity for Pakistani cricket to make a stance.
To prove it no longer wants to be a sick joke told by backstreet bookies, that it wants to be a sport that has been dragged kicking and screaming into an ethical world.
The Pakistani executives should have announced their own stringent inquiry into the affair - not just hauled in the three accused for a cup of tea, listened to them plead their innocence and then declare... it's all a fit-up.
And, of course, while investigations continue, this team should not be playing cricket. Sunday's game in Cardiff is already a farce. For that, the ECB - and its laughably pompous chief Giles Clarke - should take a share of the blame.
It is clear that the financial cost of scrapping the rest of the tour was uppermost in ECB minds when they campaigned for it to continue.
But maybe we should have expected that from an organisation that became so enamoured of financial gain that it hopped into bed with Allen Stanford - a man now awaiting trial on fraud charges.
Overall, the ECB have handled the situation reasonably well - apart from allowing the charade that is the current Pakistan cricket set-up to continue playing here. Pakistan have brought in Asad Shafiq and 7ft 1in fast bowler Mohammad Irfan (another one of their tall stories) to bolster their squad.
They resisted the temptation to call up Danish Kaneira, probably because he has to attend Chelmsford Police Station on September 15 where he will be further questioned over allegations of, yes, spot-fixing in a county game.
At least the ICC acted decisively, if not somewhat belatedly. Sir Ronnie Flanagan and Haroon Lorgat exuded calm authority at Lord's on Friday.
But one thing underpinned the hour-long press conference. Flanagan's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit does not have enough power to tackle a problem that his predecessor Paul Condon described as a 'rash'.
It is not sanctioned to mount the sort of investigation carried out by this newspaper.
It has a confidential hotline which people can ring with whispers of chicanery. It's like going into battle with a balloon on a stick.
Cricket has to give more power to people such as Flanagan if it is serious about weeding out the cheats and charlatans.
And if Pakistan wants to be taken seriously in the world of cricket, if it wants help in its time of greatest need, it should co-operate in a spirit of openness and contrition.
Not fudge the issue and not concoct bizarre yarns to shield the three men who have been caught with the knives in their hands.
IF THE Pakistan cricket authorities are looking for a good lawyer to defend their players against the ICC corruption charges, may I suggest Bob Massingberd. | News Of The World
