Botham’s call for ban on Pakistan widely criticised
Following in the footsteps of Malcolm Speed, who earlier at the outburst of the spot fixing allegations had voiced his opinion on how Pakistan should be banned from international cricket. Sir Ian Botham has come forward to suggest that Pakistan must be banned
from all forms of cricket until the accusations of spot fixing on some Pakistan players have been completely investigated.
His suggestion is more like suggesting that Tiger http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Woods-c98113 should stop playing golf, till he settles his issues of cheating on his wife. In Tiger Woods scenario of course, he was caught red handed and we can of course feel an iota of pity for the wife, but
in this case the reports of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Scotland-c756 Yard have not been given to the ICC.
One could certainly have expected Sir Ian Botham to choose his words a little more carefully, however, he had much confidence over his suggestions. All rounder Botham, who once infamously quipped during the build up of the 1992 World Cup, “http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 is the
sort of country to send your mother in law to”, insulting his mother-in-law and taking a go at the Pakistan side. The fact that England went on to lose the match is another matter altogether.
'I would like to know how http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128 knows what the bookmakers are doing. Maybe he should tell us something. '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".
When he was asked if directly if Pakistan should be banned, Botham replied, “'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”, he raged.
Imran http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Khan-c71319, former captain and all rounder for Pakistan, however, rubbished all those statements, made by Ian Botham, Michael Vaughan and others. Khan said, that a country cannot merely be sidelined on the basis of allegations. Even if certain individuals
are found guilty, an entire nation could not be given collective punishment. Their calls followed the latest allegations published in the British Tabloid “The Sun” which is a sister company of The News of the World. It alleged that bookies were aware of certain
scoring patterns in the Pakistan side and following the report, ICC started its investigations on the matter.
The fact that it does not take any rocket science to predict the scoring pattern of the relatively young Pakistan side, who have a habit of starting slow and keeping a steady run rate during the middle over’s is another matter altogether.
Khan said, that the only piece of evidence comes from a newspaper report and a footage showing somebody being given money to give to the Pakistan players, on the basis of which it would be absolutely naive to punish an entire country.
Cricket fans from England and other countries also lashed out at the statement of Ian Botham, where some of the comments by the fans read, “As an http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 cricket supporter. I think Ian Botham's comments are ill timed and disgusting. To ban Pakistan is like
banning Brazil from football, they light up world cricket. Ian Botham has always been biased against any teams from the Asian subcontinent especially Pakistan. He needs to get off his high horse for a change!”
Some other English fans noted, “Come on Beefy, if we start speculating then what do you say to the no ball call made by Kettleborough (Umpire) against Umar Gul in the fourth one dayer as his foot was inside the line by a couple of inches but somehow the
umpire called it a No Ball. Was there any spot fixing involved? ACSU should at least speak to the umpire on what was he thinking? As an Englishman I felt ashamed as all the umpiring errors were against Pakistan throughout this series, Strauss was plumb LBW
yesterday but not given so is ICC doing anything about it?”
While a certain S Hughes from Wales did not mince his words, and said “Beefy, you're a pompous bore. Butt out”.
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