http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 Series “On” insists Majola
Rocked by spot and match fixing allegations the Pakistan Cricket Board was given an assurance by the South African Cricket Board President Gerald Majola that his Board was confident that the scheduled test and ODI series against
Pakistan later in the year would go ahead as planned and that no player from his team had asked him to call off the tour.
Majola added that the series was planned by the two boards and was sanctioned by the ICC hence there was no reason to call it off.
Majola said: "This is an official bilateral tour governed by the ICC FTP agreement, signed by all member countries; therefore it is an ICC-sanctioned match. The ICC has not cancelled the tour and is dealing with the matter through
the ACSU. We therefore have no reason to call off the tour."
Speculations on the cancellation of the series started when a British paper, The Telegraph, claimed that some of the South African players set to take part in the series to be played in neutral territory in UAE were not keen on
playing Pakistan in the wake of the spot and match fixing allegations that have emerged during the ongoing tour of England.
The newspaper put the onus on Tony Irish, the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 Cricketers Association chief claiming that "many players" had expressed concerns to him about the tour about the series. "The fact that there are now further incidents
under investigation is not good news," Irish said. "This all needs to be dealt with urgently in order to ensure that a heavy cloud of suspicion and doubt doesn't hang over our series against Pakistan."
The statement by the Irish was surprising to say the least as the South Africans had themselves been at the centre of match and spot fixing allegations many years ago which led to the imposition of a life ban on their former captain,
Late Hansie Cronje.
A member of the current team Herschelle http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gibbs-c60021, was also in the thick of the allegations and was handed a one year suspension for his alleged role in the controversy that threatened the very existence of the game some ten years
ago.
The South Africans will play two tests, five ODIs and one T20 game on the tour, the matches will be played in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Another concern for the cricketing authorities is the alleged presence of leading bookmakers in the country and the possibility that they might influence players from both sides to manipulate results at the two venues.
Only a few days ago the South African had announced that they were keen on playing an additional match which would act as a fund raiser for flood victims that has ravaged one of the greatest natural disasters that hit Pakistan
last month.
Meanwhile the last two ODI’s between Pakistan and England are set to be played next week, the fifth match is at the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rose-c86842 Bowl in Southampton and the men in green cannot wait to play and leave the UK as soon as possible given the
controversies that plagued them in their three months sojourn that began in May.
Few would have believed that the tour that started on a positive note of a 2-0 win over the Australians in the T20 series would peter out the way it has especially with the fixing scandal during the fourth test against England
at Lords last month.
Ever since the scandal erupted the game of cricket has taken a back seat with all the talk on developments off the field that have only brought a bad name to the gentlemen’s game.
Tags: