ICC declares Oval ODI clean
The International Cricket Council has announced the allegedly tainted one-day international between Pakistan and England at Oval this year was not associated with any wrongdoing. According to the ICC, the ODI was declared clean after there was no evidence
found by the Anti Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU).
Pakistan had won that Oval ODI after it had looked like England would go on to win it with ease. However, suspicion was cast by the ICC on the game after they received reports from a newspaper in England, The Sun that they had information of how the game was
going to pan out. The ICC had then said that they were going to conduct a "a full investigation”, given that there was some evidence that the bookies knew beforehand how many runs were going to be scored at particular times in the game.
An ICC press release read, "Following extensive investigations into allegations about the one-day international between England and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 at The Oval in London on 17 September, the ACSU has verified all the available information and concluded that there
was no compelling evidence to suspect individual players or support staff. The investigation is now complete but if new and corroborating evidence comes to light then clearly the ACSU will re-open the matter."
Pakistani cricket had already been reeling from the spot-fixing allegations against three of their cricketers in the fourth Test match at Lord’s. All the three cricketers, Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif were provisionally suspended by the ICC.
However, when these allegations been announced by the ICC immediately after the Oval ODI had ended, it had led to a huge uproar in Pakistan and led their chairman, Ejaz Butt to call it a conspiracy to defame it. Butt had gone on to accuse the English cricketers
of accepting money to lose the Oval ODI deliberately.
The ICC had also been criticised for the manner in which they had made the announcement of the investigation without informing the PCB.
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