The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to take strong note of Cricket Australia (CA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) James Sutherland's comments, in which he said, Pakistan was not doing enough to prevent spot-fixing in the game.
According to sources, PCB officials have complained to the ICC against Sutherland’s negative comments. He added that such bad comments undermine the impression of Pakistan cricket in the world.
The PCB official stated, “Sutherland is the serving chief executive of Cricket Australia and basically his statement is a violation of the ICC member board`s code”.
Few days back, the ICC Chief Sutherland stated that the spot-fixing in England would not have happened if Pakistan cricket had followed the measures recommended in the Justice Qayyum report.
Sutherland said that PCB should have implemented the recommendations of Qayyum Report, so that no such corruption could be possible in Pakistan cricket.
However, he added that the board has failed to follow the report and hence faced corruption such as spot-fixing in England’s tour last year.
Rather surprisingly, PCB found the backing of former India spinner, Bishen Singh Bedi, who also thought Sutherland's statement was uncalled for.
The former Indian spinner expressed, “I think it is time there was a common front against such things. Australia, England and other western boards have to realize that they cannot make such statements and maintain their holier than thou attitude”.
PCB officials further added that the matter will be taken up in ICC's next meeting in Dubai, as the Board was hurt by Sutherland's statement.
Spot-fixing is a very serious offence, which can be found in any form of cricket. Pakistan faced controversies regarding spot-fixing during their England tour of 2010, when Pakistani players Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir, and, Mohammad Asif, were found guilty for their involvement in spot-fixing during a Test match at Lord’s. They have been banned by the ICC for at least five years from all forms of cricket.
Although many experts are of the opinion that corruption from cricket cannot be eliminated completely, yet the ICC should take maximum steps to ensure that it does not affect the game to a large extent.
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