England hope to save rest of series

CRICKET:THE ENGLAND and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are desperate for the one-day leg of Pakistan's tour to go ahead despite the allegations of corruption that surround the team after yesterday's expose.

Sources close to the board say a cancellation of the two Twenty20 internationals and five one-day fixtures that remain would cost the ECB €12m-€14.5m, roughly half its reserves at a time when the game is under growing financial strain.

The board is hoping that Shahid Afridi, Pakistan’s one-day captain who arrived in London last night, will act as a power broker who can ensure the series go ahead in the wake of the alleged betting scandal that has plunged international cricket into crisis and brought calls for life bans for any players found guilty.

Police raided the Pakistan team hotel near Regents Park late on Saturday night, confiscating mobile phones belonging to the Pakistan captain Salman Butt, and the fast bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif as allegations of corruption overshadowed England’s victory yesterday by an innings and 225 runs at Lord’s, which gave them a 3-1 series win.

Afridi, who resigned as Pakistan’s Test captain after their defeat against Australia at Lord’s this summer, will take over the captaincy from Butt, implicated in the News of the World sting, when the first Twenty20 international begins in Cardiff on Sunday. Reports in Pakistan, from sources close to Afridi, suggest that he implored the Pakistan tour manager, Yawar Saeed, to keep the Pakistan players away from the brothers Mazhar and Azhar Majeed. Mazhar Majeed, who claims to manage 10 Pakistan players, including Butt, has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers.

The News of the World quoted Mazhar Majeed as saying: “A lot of the boys want to f**k up Afridi as he is trying to f**k up things for them. They all want Butt to be captain.”

Afridi is likely to be a key figure when leading England cricket officials, led by the chairman of the ECB, Giles Clarke, enter 24 hours of urgent talks with their Pakistan Cricket Board counterparts before deciding whether the one-day series will go ahead.

Pakistan’s tour manager insisted that it would and that Pakistan would fulfil a one-day warm-up against Somerset on Thursday as well.

After a demoralised Pakistan side had lost the final Test Saeed said: “We are moving to the west country on Tuesday and we will play all the one days and the T20s. It is not for me within 24 hours to pass a judgment whether the allegations are true or not.”

The ECB was privately advising the counties staging the one-day matches that it was confident a solution could be found to enable the series to go ahead. Whether Pakistan could voluntarily withdraw Butt, Amir and Asif from the one-day squad to enable allegations to be investigated is one area that is bound to be discussed.

Cricket’s embarrassment was evident when the series presentations were made not on the outfield but in the Lord’s Long Room. Clarke presented Amir with his award as man of the series but chose not to shake his hand and his expression was that of a man who would rather be elsewhere.

Strauss called for cricketers guilty of accepting bribes to rig any element of a cricket match to be banned for life. “With a lot of these match-fixing allegations it is so hard to prove one way or another which is one of the real difficulties with it,” he said. “If someone is found categorically guilty of doing it the only way for me is for you not to be able to play international cricket again.”

The Pakistan sports minister, Ijaz Hussain Jakhrani, has promised a life ban for any Pakistan players found guilty. “We are waiting for a detailed report from the Pakistan Cricket Board and if any players are found guilty of being involved in fixing they will be banned for life,” Jakhrani said yesterday.

Pakistan’s most famous cricketer, Imran Khan, insisted his country should not be banned from competing if found guilty of match-fixing allegations.

Retired captain Khan said the country should not suffer for the alleged actions of a tiny handful of people.

Khan said: “Why should Pakistan cricket suffer if some players have indulged in a crime? Why should Pakistani supporters suffer because of that?

“The people who are found guilty should be removed from the team and replaced and should be punished as an example for future generation to realise that crime does not pay.”

Butt, a young stand-in captain who had been widely praised this summer, only once roused himself from hesitant, reluctant responses. Asked if he would resign, he said: “Why? Pakistan has won a Test match from Australia after 15 years and from England after nine years so does that make me have to resign from this current situation? I haven’t any allegation except just taking my name. There is nothing I have seen, or shown, that involves me.”