It's Just Not Cricket: Pakistan's Disgraceful Fixing Exposed

IT’S hard to believe. A cricket team with their backs against the wall, desperate to keep the game going in their own country... and they’ve let the fragile, cricket-speaking world down.

Yes, Pakistan, bow your heads in shame.

The elation of holding Australia to a 1-1 draw in the “neutral Test” here earlier in the summer can now be discounted. Their brave fight back in the current series against England is thrown into question. For Pakistan, where street cricket is the only game in town, the future is bleak.

While their nation struggles with unprecedented floods and political turmoil, their cricketers have seen fit to disgrace the nation. Not all of them apparently, but Mohammad Amir, the 18-year-old bowling sensation, is believed to be among the disgraced. Seven current players are implicated.

The News of the World, England’s sharpest and best-selling Sunday tabloid, devotes its first seven pages to the scandal this morning, and the rest of us are struggling to take in the enormity of their allegations.

I got wind of these events yesterday afternoon – but some have known for a lot longer. The central character, a former agent called Mazhar Majeed, fell for the News of the World’s incredible undercover reporter Mazher Mahmood. He took £140,000 off the journalist in “crisp £20 notes” at the Copthorne Tara hotel after an initial £10,000 deposit.

Then he sat back and oozed: “I’m going to give you three no-balls to prove what’s happening. If you play this right, you will make a lot of money, believe me.”

And, bang on cue, Amir – who became the youngest cricketer to make the Lord’s honours board on Friday when he took his fifth wicket – bowled a huge no-ball. So too did Mohammed Asif. Three times, they produced huge no-balls at exactly the right moment. And they did so after discussions with their corrupt captain Salman Butt.

The evidence is clear. First ball of the third over. Third ball of Amir’s third over after a chat with Butt which saw no fielders moved. Last ball of the tenth over. It’s all there in print.

And these incidents, apparently, are just the tip of the iceberg. Majeed told the News of the World: “I’ve been doing it with them, the Pakistani team, for two-and-a-half years. We’ve made masses and masses of money. The players actually approached me about this.

“I deal with an Indian party. The one-dayers and the Twenty20s are about to start and we’re going to make a hell of a lot.

“They all want Butt to be captain. They want to lose anyway. The Twenty20s are easiest.”

It stinks. Pakistan can’t play at home anymore since the tragic shootings during the Sri Lanka series. The ECB kindly allowed them to play Australia in England... and this is the thanks they get.

Scotland Yard are now investigating. The ECB and ICC have released a statement. But today the Lord’s Test went on, with Pakistan going down in flames to lose the series 3-1.

But suddenly it doesn’t matter. It’s just not cricket. No balls? Pakistan’s cricketers can certainly be accused of that.

Flower blooms at 7am the morning after... and issues a warning to South Africa

ENGLAND boss Andrew Flower issued a clear warning to South Africa before Thursday’s final Test in Johannesburg, insisting: “We aren’t going to The Wanderers to draw the series, we’re going there to win this thing 2-0”

After yesterday’s miraculous draw in the third Test at Newlands, Flower (and Ian Bell, right) emerged before 7am London time at the team’s plush new headquarters on Cape Town’s waterfront to say: “We showed a lot of fight to save two Tests here and we won in Durban.

“Fight is something we like to have in our dressing room. It’s integral to what we want. But every England side inherently has fight because the players are representing their country.

“We want to go on to bigger, better things with this team.”

Flower, talking as a “table cloth” of cloud drifted over the magnificent Table Mountain behind him, praised the fantastic four-hour partnership between Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell which provided the platform for England’s great escape yesterday – and he had kind words for No11 bat Graham Onions, who stood firm for the last over, just as he had at Centurion in the first Test.

Flower said: “Colly is a typical British bulldog, he’s great in the dressing room and he has lots of energy. Now he is using his experience and he is battle-hardened to play against the best sides in the world.

“Belly followed his big 100 (140) which helped win the match in Durban with a match-saving innings (78) yesterday It’s good to see him playing with confidence.”

Described as “a legend” by captain Andrew Strauss yesterday, “Bunny” Onions came in for further praise from Flower as he followed his 19-ball last-man-standing epic at Centurion with 17 balls of desperate defiance yesterday. Flower said: “Bunny’s been in some difficult situations and he’s come through it. He’s had very little luck with his bowling on this tour but he’s proved he can bat when it matters.

“That’s testament to him and the thousands of balls he’s had thrown down at him Phil Neal and our coaching staff. Battling our way to two draws, refusing to lose, that has to be great for English cricket.”

The only slight blemish? The form of Kevin Pietersen, who scored 0 and 6 in front of booing fans at Newlands. Flower said: “Everybody has blips in Test cricket. I’m confident he’ll come back. But he contributed to this draw in the field and in the dressing room.

“I wouldn’t say he’s a special case, everybody is a special case in our squad, in the nicest sense of the word. They all have their unique problems but we deal with everybody the same way. I have every confidence in Kevin.”

Of the ball-tampering allegations against Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson, repeated over two days by the South Africans, Flower said: “Our bowlers did nothing wrong. They have great talent at bowling reverse swing on coarse tracks here. We shall continue to do exactly what we always do.

“Has this changed the relationship between the two sides? There’s always a little bit to say to eachother in a series as close as this. But it’s fine. Was it an attempt to unsettle England? You’ll have to ask them that.”

Broadside for South Africa on a chilly summer's morning

ON an incredibly chilly mid-summer’s morning in Pretoria, England’s Stuart Broad has turned up the heat on South Africa before the first Test starts in neighbouring Centurion on Wednesday.

Broad, breaking off from a lively practice session the morning after they had been made the BBC's Sports Team of the Year for their Ashes-winning exploits last summer, warned the hosts: “This is a big opportunity for us. South Africa are a bit rusty, they haven’t played Test cricket for three months and we are feeling good as a team.

“We have to make sure we go into the first day at Centurion and hit them hard. We’re pretty confident we can.”

With England still deliberating over whether to go on the attack and play just four bowlers, Broad added: “The beauty of this England side is that we have that option. Obviously if we go in with six batters it will put pressure on the bowlers, but Jimmy Anderson and I have been opening the bowling for quite a while and we are ready to step up and take responsibility.

“I’d be happy to bat at seven if we choose that option. I’ve gone in there in three or four Tests and I have been working on my technique. I just have to get in there and get a few runs.

“What’s good about this England team is that there are players ready to step up in all situations. We just have to make sure we get off to a good start on Wednesday. That’s so important in a four-match series.”

Broad also explained why he has decided to opt out of the Indian Premier League for another season. Struggling with a shoulder injury earlier in the tour, he said: “It’s been a tough schedule. We’ve got four Tests over the next five weeks and then there’s the Bangladesh tour.

“You have to listen to your body. I’m not ruling out the IPL in the future but for now England comes first. It was always my boyhood dream to play for my country and that is my priority.

“I’ve done a lot of thinking and a lot of talking. I have to think about my body.”

While South Africa sweat over the fitness of all-rounder Jacques Kallis, who has been having oxygen chamber treatment for his broken rib, their captain Graeme Smith issued this warning to England’s Pietermaritzburg-born batsman Kevin Pietersen.

“He's made a lot of remarks about the country that I don't think he's ever apologised for.

"It's hard for people just to wash away those things and that's why people will give him a hard time. "

Pietersen (pictured) appeared undaunted in the nets yesterday at Pretoria University’s High Performance Centre, which will house Diego Maradona’s Argentina at next year’s World Cup.

He enjoyed a high-octane net with selector and former England spinner Ashley Giles and was running through his full repertoire of shots, including a “Dilshan” scoop over his own head and plenty of left-handed switch hitting.

With Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom both fit and bowling out in the middle today before the rain came down – as it has nearly every day on this tour so far - England must now decide whether to go on the offensive with the No 7 slot going to Broad or all-rounder Luke Wright.

But the indications are England are leaning towards the six batsmen option, which means Ian Bell would keep his place. Broad said simply: “We’ll leave it to the management to decide on Wednesday. It’s just great that we have that option.”

Probable team: Strauss, Cook, Pietersen, Trott, Bell, Collingwood, Prior, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Sidebottom. Possible changes: Wright for Bell, Onions for Sidebottom.