English board sends written demand for apology to PCB chairman
The English cricket board and the Professional Cricketers' Association have sent a notice to the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128, demanding an unconditional apology from him for claiming that
the English cricketers had fixed the Oval ODI played earlier this month. Pakistan had gone on to win the game in a thrilling contest as Umar Gul had picked up six wickets in the game.
Butt had claimed that the English cricketers had accepted bribes from alleged and illegal betting agents to lose the game. when asked for the proof, he had added that the International Cricket Council should
first be asked for proof against the Pakistani cricketers.
Butt had claimed, "There is loud and clear talk in bookie circles that some English players have taken enormous amounts of money to lose the match [the third ODI]. No wonder there was such a collapse." He
had gone on to say that there was a conspiracy been hatched by some of the cricket boards to defraud the Pakistani cricket.
Butt was speaking to a website when he made the allegations and came immediately after the ICC decided to investigate the Oval ODI citing some scoring patterns in the Pakistani innings which they already
had been informed of.
English board’s chief executive, David Collier said that the board and the players needed an apology, which is why they had sent Butt the letter. he added that if the PCB chairman did not apologise then legal
options could be looked at. He added, "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.”
A miffed English captain Andrew Strauss said that the side was saddened by the allegations and refuted the same. In fact, there was a buzz that the English team wanted to call off the rest of the series,
but sanity prevailed and the last two games were played as scheduled. England went on to win the series 3-2.
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