England’s ODI series win brings justice - Strauss
After all that has troubled the international cricketing arena in the recent tour of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 to England, English skipper Andrew Strauss believes that justice prevailed regarding all match-fixing allegations. Englishmen drew the line under fraught and emotions
as they secure the One-day International (ODI) series with a notable 3-2 win. In light of Eoin Morgan's fine century and the English bowling attack, they sealed the deal with a 121 run victory in the 5th and final ODI at http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rose-c86842 Bowl. Strauss has urged
the International Cricket Board (ICC) to clean up the game of cricket with the recent controversies which are ruining the integrity of the sport itself.
Three Pakistani players were suspended after the Oval test on the grounds that they had some illegal associations with English book-maker’s, while the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) made harsh allegations once the ICC called for an investigation on the English
team as they lost the 3rd ODI, the match was considered to have an inconsistent run-rate through the English innings which led to the investigation in the first place. PCB chairperson http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128 stated that the allegations on the visiting team were
untrue, and that the English were trying to enforce a match-fixing conspiracy on the Pakistani team.
However, the Pakistan High Commissioner to England Wajid Shamsul http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hasan-c61990 believed that the comments given by the PCB chairman was an innocent argument. On the contrary, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is looking forward to a formal apology from the
PCB chairman. ECB regards his statement to be “wholly irresponsible and completely without foundation”. Meanwhile, the PCB is planing to lead an investigation of their own to find the truth behind the match-fixing scandals.
This ODI series win means a lot to the ECB and its cricket, as they claim their sixth trophy this summer. The importance of the series win is more than silverware as it brings the sense of justice that the result gave to England’s cricketers. There implicated
match-fixing scandal became more notable for the pre-match quarrel between Jonathan Trott and Wahab Riaz in the training session.
The Englishmen made sure that the visiting Pakistani team would go home empty handed, and at the fall of the final wicket, the celebrations that followed were very emotional and could be argubly compared with the reclaiming of the Ashes
last summer. English skipper Strauss believed before the start of the game that the players had not been short of motivation going into the season finale.
“It was a huge game of cricket really. It's been a very tough series at the end of a long summer. We've been to some pretty unpleasant places as a team over the last few days, and we've had to show a lot of unity and togetherness. We came
out today determined to finish the series on a high, and you could see how much it meant to us when the final wicket went down”.
Also adding, “Motivation wasn't a problem for us, we were absolutely determined to win this game," he added. "The Lord's game was a tough one to play, and I thought [the guys] were tremendous to come through it in the way they did, but
to have gone from 2-0 up to 2-2, we wanted to get something out of this series.”
ECB and skipper Strauss is looking forward to ICC to take firm action on these alleged match-fixing controversies. This ODI series win can be considered as a much needed win to raise the morale of the English players. The English team regained its glory
with a fine win over the visitor’s. Plus, a series win over the Pakistani team has also given the hosts some final 50-over game practice before the upcoming ICC World Cup 2011.
Meanwhile, the English would be looking forward to the much anticipated Ashes series, as they defend the Urns in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746. One can hope for the international cricket fraternity to regain its lost trust, integrity and glory, in the eyes of its billions
of viewers.
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