England & Wales Cricket Board furious; demands apology from PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt
The England & Wales Cricket Board sent an official letter to the PCB Chairman, Ijaz Butt, asking for an apology after Butt claimed that the England team had deliberately lost the third ODI against Pakistan at the Oval.
The peeved ECB and Professional Cricketers' Association, to whom this news was a sudden shock, asked Ijaz Butt for a prompt apology or to be ready for serious legal action. The letter, which was sent on behalf of England’s cricket
team, clearly stated that if Mr. Butt does not take his words back or does not come up with a pertinent apology, legal proceedings would begin against him without any further ado.
According to the ECB, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128 has been sent a pre-action letter following his allegation against the England cricket team, and if he fails to come up with a satisfactory response, severe legal action might be taken against him
and he could find himself in deep trouble.
Ijaz Butt, who was under severe pressure from the Pakistani media and cricket lovers across http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 for not defending their national players under the spot fixing fiasco, appeared before international media and alleged that England’s
players threw the third ODI against Pakistan. He termed England’s poor performance in that very game as pathetic and went on to say that some of England players had taken bribes from bookies and that he had clear evidence of this. Butt stated that he had
received letters from England’s bookies; letters which clearly stated that bookies were aware of certain scoring patterns which occurred in the third ODI at the Oval.
Butt’s comments however didn’t seem to have any worthwhile effect on England, who continued their winning streak with yet another series win over Pakistan, crushing them by 121 runs in the fifth and final encounter on Wednesday
at the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rose-c86842 Bowl. Before the ODI series, they had comprehensively beaten Pakistan in the test series 3-1 and both Twenty20 matches.
Additionally, Pakistan threatened the ECB by claiming that they would call off the rest of their tour, including the last two One Day International matches, after Wahab Riaz - who was the forth Pakistan player interviewed by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Scotland-c756
Yard and then released unconditionally by the police - and Jonathan Trott quarreled while practicing in the net sessions. Both sides though, thankfully, acted sensibility and showed great responsibility and restraint to put the issue to bed as quickly as it
flared up.
Andrew Strauss was not pleased to hear the allegations made by Ijaz Butt against his team and stated that the England cricket team was thoroughly concerned about the integrity and respect of its players. Moreover, he called it
a matter of shame that the integrity of his players was being questioned. He distinctly denied the allegations by the PCB chairman, and said that he would work promptly with the ECB to settle these issues immediately.
It will now be interesting to see how Ijaz Butt reacts to statements and letters sent by ECB over the spot fixing saga and the way matters proceed from this critical stage.
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