Shady Cricketers Should Be Taken to Task
By Dawar Naqvi
Yorba Linda, CA
Test cricket suffered one of the darkest days in its 134-year history on Tuesday when three former Pakistan internationals, accused of match fixing, were convicted in an English court. Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt and his opening bowlers, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, were subsequently awarded jail terms. The nation would have been spared of this embarrassment if the PCB had taken firm action following the publication of Justice Qayyum's report.
http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/NATIONAL/PAK/NEWS/qayyumreport/qayyum_report.html
Regrettably, no action against players listed in the report was taken and their involvement in PCB affairs was allowed to continue unhindered.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sport/cricket/763387.stm
It is very sad to see the names of some star players in the list. Some of them later became coach or manager of the team. They were a bad influence on the young players. It takes tremendous self-discipline to avoid and escape such influence.
Besides those already convicted three other Pakistani cricketers were implicated in the spot-fixing scandal. There have been suggestions that wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, his brother and batsman Umar Akmal, and fast bowler Wahab Riaz, were involved in shady dealings.
During the 2009-10 tour of Australia, Akmal dropped four catches and missed an easy run-out chance of Michael Hussey, who was at 33 then and went on to score 134 runs in what turned out to be a match-winning ninth wicket partnership with Peter Siddle during the course of the second test match. In early September 2010 the International Cricket Council sent an official notice to Kamran Akmal informing him that he was under investigation for allegedly fixing the Sydney Test.
It is very important for the Pakistan Cricket Board and the ICC to wipe out the root causes of corruption. The PCB could act promptly by raising a new set of players because there are question marks on the conduct of some players in the present team.
I humbly request the Chief Justice of Pakistan to summon players whose names are mentioned in betting, match- and spot-fixing. The offenders should be duly punished.
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