ECB to face 1 million pound bill to sue http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128
The highly erratic chairman of the PCB made counter allegations against the England team, following the decision of the ICC to investigate into the matter of allegations of bookies predicting the scoring pattern of the Pakistan team. A game that took place
in the Oval ODI and Pakistan went on to win this match.
Ijaz Butt, made one of the most incredulous statements of the summer by stating that the English players had taken “enormous” amounts of money from the bookies to throw away the Oval match. His statement overshadowed the brilliant win of his team and cast
doubts over the spectacular performance of Umar Gul and the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 side.
England Cricket Board and the team management took the allegations very seriously and held a meeting last Sunday that went on till the early hours of Monday. After the meeting, with the players and the management the England Cricket Board issued a strongly
worded statement against Ijaz Butt, condemning it as “wholly irresponsible” of the chairman to have made the allegations without proper proof.
According to the spokesman for the legal firm Wollastons LLP "defamation actions are notoriously expensive and you're looking at least £1 million to take it all the way to court". According to the lawyer, the fact that Mr Butt resided in Pakistan and had
made the allegations during his statement to an Indian TV channel would further complicate the issue.
"Because Pakistan is a Commonwealth country, there's a reciprocal convention whereby you can sue him here but serve the notice over there," said the spokesman. "If the ECB went ahead, he would have to decide whether to come over to the UK. Even if he didn't,
they could still seek a judgment in his absence."
The ECB had earlier assured its players that they would financially assist them to sue Ijaz Butt for defamation and would pay for the legal action. Given that the Pakistan tour is now over, the ECB does have the option of drawing a line under this. However
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hugh-Morris-c63550 the managing director of England Cricket reiterated the stance of the ECB and said that Butts allegations were too serious of a nature to be taken lightly since they stand a chance to malign England cricket.
Ijaz Butt had earlier said on Sunday, that "There is loud and clear talk in bookie circles that some English players have taken enormous amounts of money to lose the match [at the Oval]. No wonder there was such a collapse."
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