The head of the International Cricket Council (ICC) has called match-fixing allegations against three suspended Pakistan players the most serious case of corruption to hit the sport since South Africa captain Hansie Cronje was banned for life 10 years ago.
Speaking yesterday, ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said allegations that Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir and Salman Butt conspired with bookmakers to deliver deliberate no-balls in last week’s fourth Test against England were hugely detrimental to the image of cricket.
“In terms of corruption in the sport, this must rank as the next worst after the Hansie Cronje case,” Lorgat said.
Photo: REUTERS
Cronje admitted to forecasting results in exchange for money from a London bookmaker, prompting the ICC to create its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU).
There is no suggestion that the Pakistan players conspired to affect the result of the match at Lord’s — which Pakistan lost by an innings and 225 runs — but the trio could still be banned for life if found guilty.
The ICC could widen the investigation into the allegations against Asif, Amir and Butt — whom it suspended late on Thursday — to cover January’s contentious Test match against Australia in Sydney.
ACSU chairman Ronnie Flanagan said the current charges pertain only to last week’s Test against England but that the ICC could still look into what he called a “dysfunctional” tour of Australia by Pakistan.
Flanagan and Lorgat would not comment on reports in yesterday’s edition of Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper that marked notes used in the sting operation that led to the allegations had been found in Butt’s locker.
The pair went on to say that the ICC reacted as quickly as it could to the initial allegations against the Pakistan trio, but would not announce the specific charges against them.
Amir, Asif and Butt were being questioned by police yesterday.
They were first questioned late on Saturday when the allegations were made public and had their mobile phones confiscated.
“There was no specific tipping point that caused us to act yesterday,” Flanagan said. “Rather it was the culmination of a process of examining all the evidence and taking legal advice.”
Pakistan’s top diplomat in Britain has criticized the suspension of the players before police investigations are complete.
Pakistan High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan said cricket’s ruling body should not have acted until investigations by the police and its own anti-corruption unit were complete.
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Francesco Bagnaia yesterday profited from a mistake by rookie Pedro Acosta to win the Japan MotoGP sprint and close the gap on overall championship leader, Jorge Martin. Spaniard Acosta crashed with four laps to go while leading the field at Motegi, allowing defending world champion Bagnaia to take first ahead of Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez. Spain’s Martin finished fourth and saw his overall lead over Italian Bagnaia in the championship standings cut to 15 points. “I am very happy because with these conditions, it’s not very easy to win and gain points,” Bagnaia said after a sprint race that took place under
Naomi Osaka is braced for a “battle” after yesterday setting up a clash with Coco Gauff in the round-of-16 of the China Open, while top seed Aryna Sabalenka also marched on. Osaka defeated 60th-ranked American Katie Volynets 6-3, 6-2 and next faces Gauff in a showdown of former US Open champions in Beijing. World No. 2 Sabalenka swatted aside Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-2 for her 14th consecutive victory and plays another American in 24th-ranked Madison Keys. Looking ahead to the Gauff meeting, four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka said: “She’s very athletic, obviously.” “For me, my strongest traits are being aggressive and also my serve,
RSS