Jonathan Trott and Wahab Riaz in a scuffle as tensions rise
The controversy riddled England-Pakistan series hit a new low on Monday when players from the two teams had to be separated in the nets at Lord’s in the face of the statement of the ECB and the England cricket team who said, that they will take legal action
against the claims made by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128 who refused to withdraw or even clarify the match-fixing claims.
As Butt refused to retract from his statement alleging the English players of match-fixing, temperatures soared at Lords, where Jonathan Trott squared up to Pakistan’s 12th man, Wahab Riaz during the net sessions at Lords shortly before the beginning
of the ODI international which England went on to lose following another remarkable performance by Pakistani bowlers. England lost the match by a margin of 38 runs, with players like Collingwood and Bell failing to capitalize on the opportunity.
England had a good start against Pakistan, with Andrew Strauss playing superbly for his 50. However, they failed to build up on the magnificent start that they had been given and soon came crumbling down like a debilitated structure, ready to be detonated
and brought down. Many commentators were of the view that the English players were not used to being in the line of fire and controversy and maybe that had taken its toll on the English players who gave away the match at Lords to have the series squared at
2-2.
England had earlier before the start of the match at Lords given considerable consideration to abandoning the series. However, keeping in view the fact that it would set a wrong precedent for cricket in the future, they made the right decision to go ahead
with the series.
As far as the scuffle between Trott and Riaz is concerned, it is believed that the confrontation was sparked by an exchange of comments and soon resulted in the two players charging at each other who had to be separated by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Graham-c60529 Gooch, England’s batting
coach and former captain. Trott is said to have his hand on Riaz’s throat after the Pakistan player had allegedly thrown his pads at him. Riaz was questioned last week by the police after a picture was also released by the News of the World where he is supposedly
taking money from the England based real estate tycoon http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mazhar-c75448 Majeed who lives in a 1.8 million pound mansion.
The match referee from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 threatened to pull out of the match at Lords after
the clash between the two players. Regardless of the statements made by the media, cricket boards or ICC officials off the field, it is the responsibility of the team management to ensure that there is discipline amongst the ranks of the team and their conduct
is in accordance with the rules and regulations.
All players involved in any physical altercation with another player must be dealt with strictly and both the teams and their management must ensure that strict action be taken against all those who are involved in such exchanges. At the end of the day,
the game of cricket must not suffer. ICC has also played a very disappointing role in the ongoing investigations, where they seem to wake up following a statement or some news appearing in a tabloid known for its scandalous and spicy news.
Waqar Younis however disassociated himself from the chairman’s statement. "It is the chairman's statement," he said. "He has given it and I don't know what is behind it. We have come here to play cricket. I can't really say anything on that – it is not my
job." Rightly so, it is not the job of the team management or the coach to make any statements that would bring the game of cricket into disrepute and if any evidence is found against a team or individuals, it must be handed over to the ACSU.
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