Cricket Update: England takes first action against Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman, Ijaz Butt
The England Cricket Board and the Professional Cricketers Association have formally sent a pre-action letter to the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128, in which they have sought a “full and unreserved apology” for making allegations against
the England players.
According to Ijaz Butt, the England players had taken bribes to lose the third ODI at Oval and his statement came in the wake of a spectacular performance by the Pakistan side. Not only did his statement overshadow the heroics of Umar Gul, who bagged his
career best figures of 6 wickets, he also hampered the relations with the England Cricket Board who had been extremely co-operative with the PCB.
The letter sent on behalf of the England Cricket team has advised Mr Butt, that
“if a satisfactory response was not received, legal proceedings will be commenced against him without further notice.”
In a shocking and erratic statement by the 72 year old chairman of PCB, he alleged that there was loud and clear talk in the circle of the bookies that some English players had taken enormous amounts of money to lose the third ODI at Oval against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755.
He then went on to state, ‘no wonder there was such a collapse’.
There have been suggestions in the Pakistan camps, that there is an ongoing conspiracy to defraud Pakistan Cricket and Ijaz Butt seems to be toeing the same line. These allegations were made in the wake of the announcement by the ICC that they were investigation
the third ODI at The Oval after they had received information, [note: British Tabloid the Sun] that certain bookies were aware of the scoring patterns of the Pakistan Cricket team during that match.
"We are looking for an apology. If it does not come we'll look at other options," David Collier, said on Tuesday.
"You can't impugn someone's integrity without having proper evidence. To date I can say that we have received zero evidence of anything having influenced any England player."
This might be a serious blow to Pakistan Cricket that has been involved in some of the biggest controversies in the Cricketing world since last year’s following the attack on the Sri Lankan Cricket team. Certain sporting circles in Pakistan have distanced
themselves from the statement of Ijaz Butt, and others in the ICC have followed suit. It is likely that Ijaz Butt might soon find himself replaced by someone else by the Patron in Chief of Pakistan Cricket, Mr Asif Ali Zardari.
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