Then why did all those players resign saying that the ZC had become politically influenced and corrupt 5-6 years ago... Pakistan bring an average standard, but you could argue that they haven't played at home for x amount of years and any team who plays away from home permanently will struggle, just look at India's test match record away from the subcontinent or the west indies in recent time away from the Caribbean... they are no worse than the West Indies in there cricketing standard, but produce better players... You PULL OUT of a tour on political grounds based on the assumption if you go there you condone what's happening there, that precedent has been set with Stephen Fleming about Pakistan and Stuart McGill on Zimbabwe... there colonial hate? mate your talking abit of nonsense when the nation can't have free elections, you may say that there isn't political influence on Zimbabwe Cricket but the ICC say so and there the ruling body on the matter

[size=6]ICC suspend Pakistan trio [/size]

The International Cricket Council have charged and suspended Pakistan trio Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir with "various offences" under their anti-corruption code.

The trio, who insisted they had themselves pulled out of Pakistan's Twenty20 and ODI games with England to clear their names, have been provisionally suspended, according to the ICC, until they make a decision on the charges.

Charges have been brought under Article 2 of the ICC's Anti-Corruption Code relating to alleged irregular behaviour during, and in relation to, the fourth Test between England and Pakistan at Lord's last month.

The under-fire trio have been at the eye of a spot-fixing storm since claims in the News of The World on Sunday and withdrew from the Twenty20 and one-day series against England which is due to begin on Sunday.

A statement on the ICC website read: The three players, Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, have been officially notified of the offences they are alleged to have committed and have been provisionally suspended pending a decision on those charges.
Banned

"In accordance with the provisions of the code, this means they are immediately barred from participating in all cricket and related activities until the case has been concluded.

"The players have a right to contest this provisional suspension and a further opportunity to defend these charges at a full hearing before an independent Anti-Corruption Tribunal in accordance with Article 5 of the code. The players have 14 days from their receipt of the charge sheet to indicate their desire for a hearing."

ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat added: "We will not tolerate corruption in cricket - simple as that. We must be decisive with such matters and if proven, these offences carry serious penalties up to a life ban.

"The ICC will do everything possible to keep such conduct out of the game and we will stop at nothing to protect the sport's integrity. While we believe the problem is not widespread, we must always be vigilant.

"It is important, however, that we do not pre-judge the guilt of these three players. That is for the independent tribunal alone to decide."
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12343_6354651,00.html

[size=6]Life bans if you fixed it! ICC finally get tough and issue threat over alleged Pakistan spot-fixing[/size]

Cricket's governing body finally flexed their muscles and threatened the Pakistan players accused of corruption with life bans if their guilt in established.

The International Cricket Council charged Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer with various offences under their anti-corruption code at the end of a tumultuous day in which the Pakistanis had come out fighting and professed their innocence.

It has taken the ICC five long days since the dramatic allegations of wrong-doing in the Lord's Test to show they mean business.

The accused trio, who stood down from the Pakistan one-day party citing 'mental torture', now face a round of questioning from Scotland Yard officers as they fight for their futures after being suspended with immediate affect.

'We will not tolerate corruption in cricket - simple as that,' said Haroon Lorgan, the ICC chief executive. 'We must be decisive with such matters and, if proven, these offences carry serious penalties up to a life ban.

'The ICC will do everything possible to keep such conduct out of the game and we will stop at nothing to protect the sport's integrity. While we believe the problem is not widespread, we must always be vigilant.

'It is important, however, that we do not pre-judge these players. That is for the independent tribunal alone to decide.'

It was the perfect and much-needed response from the ICC after a day in which there was a significant shift in the attitude of the Pakistan camp towards defiance.

The drama started with England seemingly forced to settle for an unsatisfactory fudge in the betting scandal when the three Pakistan players accused of spot-fixing were allowed to pull out of their tour themselves.

It appeared England had to settle for a pyrrhic victory as the under-pressure trio appeared to avoid being officially suspended and instead vowed to clear their names from accusations that they manipulated the Lord's Test under instructions from alleged fixer Mazhar Majeed.

It is a compromise the ECB initially accepted because of their desire for the show to go on, starting in Cardiff on Sunday, but the ICC finally responded to pressure from the England players, the ECB and the cricket community.

It could well be that the sight of Wajid Hasan, the Pakistan High Commissioner to the UK, appearing on the steps of his embassy and vowing to clear his players' names was the last straw for an ICC anti-corruption unit which had been stung by criticism that a newspaper had achieved in two weeks what they had not been able to do in years.

The ICC 's code of conduct allows for a player to be provisionally suspended while under investigation as long as there is clear evidence of wrong-doing. It just seems it has taken longer than necessary for the ICC to accept that the News of the World evidence could not be clearer.

Butt, the captain who is alleged to be the ringleader of the scam, and Aamer and Asif, who are said to have deliberately bowled no-balls at Lord's, were never going to play in the limited overs matches against England once the evidence against them had been revealed.

But it was only when Pakistan tried to portray themselves as victims, with the backing of their board and government, did the affair take another twist.

The day's drama began when Yawar Saeed, the Pakistan manager, announced at Taunton that the accused trio would play no part in the rest of the tour but refused to say why. Significantly, he avoided using the word 'suspended'.

Then Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman and head of the ICC 's Pakistan Task Force, did his best not to look triumphant as he welcomed the move and vowed to play his part in 'taking cricket forward in Pakistan'.

Attention quickly switched to the Pakistan High Commission in London where the accused found a passionate supporter in Hasan.

'The players have said they are entirely innocent and on account of the mental torture that has deeply affected them they are just not in the right frame of mind to play,' he said.

'They are under interrogation so they have to defend themselves. They are not going to run away. We will go to a court of law to defend them.'
He even had the audacity to say that the players had been 'set up' and threatened legal action against the News of the World.

Back in Taunton, Pakistan looked like a team who had a cloud lifted from them in their warm-up match against Somerset, with 20-year-old Shahzaib Hasan hitting the first Pakistan century of their tour.

In the end, Somerset fell seven short of Pakistan's 264 all out. But the most significant action was taking place well away from the pitch. And last night came the best news of all.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricket/article-1308488/ICC-finally-tough-issue-life-ban-threat-alleged-Pakistan-spot-fixing.html

Latest news is that seven players and officials are being hauled before the Pakistani courts and charged with treason.

What's the bet the Pakistani players' plane crashes into a mountain?

...what...too soon? 8-[

zimbabwes cricket board is not politically influenced contrary to all reports you may have read. i know this first hand....it was a case of a few corrup people getting drunk with power.

im saying pakistan have brought a poor standard of play to the game for soo long, and now they have this. its a culmination of things. im not saying ban them on performance basis.

so india who has no political instability but bombings, is ok to tour. yet zimbabwe which has greedy leaders, but it far safer than touring the sub-continent will ever be, is a risk. that is just the british govt bringing out their colonial hate and creating this nonsense.

touring zimbabwe is not on political grounds. you go there, play the cricket and then you leave. if the govt was to get involved, then its understandable, but the govt never got involved in zimbabwe.

fifa ban and punish whoever they want...they a different kettle of fish.

And what's even crazier about that is that Treason can be punishable by death in Pakistan.

Latest news is that seven players and officials are being hauled before the Pakistani courts and charged with treason.

So is West Indies standard of play currently... dumping them for a poor standard of play is not the reason why you dump them... you can't tour on political grounds, it sets a standard that your fine with whats going on and after the election last year you couldn't tour anytime soon... Pakistan has hardly been toured over the past 5-6 years besides the ill fated Sri Lanka tour last year. India is different because they don't have political instability of nations like Zimbabwe and Pakistan although tensions between Pakistan and India have always been high and after the Mumbai Bombings in 2008 England returned home for a week while the whole series was rescheduled so that no matches were played that could be of a risk... it also doesn't help that India as now the most powerful cricket nation in the world

Doesn't FIFA ban nations when there FA's become politically influenced? the same has been done with Zimbabwe

[size=6]Four Pakistan cricketers 'unlikely' to finish tour[/size]

Four Pakistan cricketers under scrutiny for claims of spot-fixing are unlikely to play again on the current England tour, the BBC understands.

The BBC's Pat Murphy said the four may lack the mental focus required to play.

The International Cricket Council is preparing a report, while police carry out a separate criminal investigation.

The four players, who have not been suspended but have been questioned by the police, are Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and Kamran Akmal.

However, the ICC has since confirmed that Akmal is no longer part of the Scotland Yard investigation, although Murphy stressed that he was not saying that the wicketkeeper had been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Murphy added that the ICC was concerned about banning the four players based on a newspaper expose and an incomplete investigation from Scotland Yard, and therefore wanted to receive the findings from the anti-corruption unit urgently.

The results are expected within days.

The anti-corruption unit's representatives are now in the UK, while the Pakistani government is sending members of its equivalent organisation to work with Scotland Yard. An ICC news conference has now been pencilled in for Thursday.

Murphy told BBC Radio 5 live: "A conference call between Pakistan high commissioner [Wajid Shamsul Hasan] and chairman of the cricket board [Ijaz Butt], who are in London, and sports minister [Ijaz Hussain Jakhrani] in Islamabad will take place on Tuesday.

"And given the importance of cricket in Pakistan, the prime minister [Yusuf Raza Gilani] may also be directly involved in the discussions.

"Although the players will still be deemed to be innocent until proven guilty, it's almost certain they will taken out of the firing line and the formula of words citing mental pressure and a lack of necessary focus, will necessitate their withdrawal from the Twenty20 matches and the one-day series."

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat told BBC Radio 5 live that the intention is to conclude the investigation before the start of the first of two Twenty20 internationals against England, in Cardiff on Sunday.

The ICC has also stated that Pakistan's tour of England will carry on - they are due to play Somerset in a tour match from Thursday.

President Sharad Pawar said it was the "desire of the ICC and the cricket boards of England and Pakistan that the game should continue".

Lorgat added: "The reputation of the game has been tarnished and it is something we must make right. There is no question that people's confidence will have been swayed.

"We're busy with the Metropolitan Police and hope, before the weekend arrives, we can get to some sort of a conclusion.

"We are working hard, but it's important to remember that an individual is innocent until proven guilty.

"I'm in touch with the investigators. It's likely I might have to come across to London. But this is a live issue which moves with the hour, every hour.

"At the moment, it is appropriate that the game continues. We shouldn't let everyone suffer because of a couple of individuals that might have got caught up in corrupt practices.

"The vast majority of players are not guilty of any such behaviour. They play the sport in the right spirit, and there are many fans who want to watch the game.

"We shouldn't let a couple of individuals, a few players, bring the entire game to a standstill."

Test captain Butt, fast bowlers Amir and Asif and wicketkeeper Akmal were questioned by police at the team's hotel in London on Sunday following a report that some Pakistan players had been bribed to fix incidents during the fourth Test against England at Lord's.

The allegations centred on three no-balls from Amir and Asif which the News of the World newspaper said had been bowled on purpose at pre-determined times to facilitate betting coups after a "middle man" accepted £150,000 in cash from an undercover reporter.

The man identified as the alleged go-between, cricket agent Mazhar Majeed, 35, has been released on police bail after being arrested on Saturday on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers.

Mazhar also owns Croydon Athletic Football Club, who have released a statement saying they are "devastated and appalled to hear of the alleged match-fixing of international cricket matches by its owner Mazhar Majeed".

After their game against Somerset, Pakistan are due to play two Twenty20 internationals and five one-day internationals against England in September.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/england/8953417.stm

as a test playing nation though, their standard has been shocking overall

those internal affairs affected us quite badly, i will agree. but zim cricket has never jeaopordised the game on a whole or brought it into disrepute like this. name me one team that has toured zimbabwe and not been safe. this whole safety nonsense is bullshit. its unsafer goin to india or pakistan but we still go there even though bombings take place right before our eyes.

ok yes for a short period zim cricket was in a poor shape, but they have changed things. the whole security argument is crap. its made up by england for their hate towards mugabe and its total utter crap. even now, they on their way back up and making positive signs, but still not getting the support from the cricketing.

pakistan are bringing the game into disrepute, yet keep getting away, zimbabwes crime is corrupt government, fullstop. the icc are a load of crap and this is bullshit.

that's not completley true, the test match wins against England and earlier Australia at Leeds was really good cricket, both bowling and batting was strong, there just not consistent enough and mentally there not the strongest... and depending on how deep this runs to wether there fixing results although i don't think it's going that bad

don't get me started, politcal influence dating back to Heath Streak affair (arguably Zimbabwe's best player) when he was sacked by ZC, financial payments to players not being made... then you've got people inside the administration being hired and fired on race... selections of players based on the race of a player, not being able to host matches by guaranteeing safety of visiting players and teams boycotting tours based on political grounds... oh no they've done nothing wrong at all :roll:

Easy to overstep the mark when players' families' lives are at stake
Geoff Lawson
August 31, 2010

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People have been quick to judge the Pakistani cricketers, but what is happening might have nothing to do with money.

If these allegations of fixing are proved, it could be related to extortion, threats, and the well-being of their own family members. It would not surprise me if illegal bookmakers have told players that if they do not perform X and Y, their families will be kidnapped or harmed.

In my time as Pakistan coach, I gained some incredible insights into the workings of the country and the team, and I'll never forget the time the team captain called me up to his room on the eve of a match.

Earlier that day, a player who we had not selected for the game approached me, saying: ''I was told I would be playing tomorrow.'' My response was, ''Well no, you're not, you've obviously been given the wrong information.''

Then the skipper of the side called me late in the evening. I went to his room and he was standing there with a very sombre-looking selector.

This selector said: ''We must pick [the player who had earlier approached me], I have been told that if he is not in the team tomorrow, my daughter will be kidnapped and I will not see her again.''

At first we both laughed, but then we realised he was being serious. Our chairman then called the president, Pervez Musharraf, who in turn phoned the people behind the threats and said they had better reconsider or else. The next we heard the matter had been resolved.

We must also remember that we are judging these guys by the standards of our own country, when their situations are vastly different.

The first time I met Mohammad Amir was when he was 16 years old, coming to an under-19s camp. He comes from a small village near the Swat valley and was delayed by three hours because the Taliban had closed the highway. That doesn't happen in this country. One thing that struck me about Amir was his constant smile, his zest for the game. That has not changed.

I will never condone any form of fixing, but we should consider that a cricketer might not be thinking of personal gain but of getting money to buy a generator for his village because they don't have electricity.

I had a lot to do with Mohammad Asif and he was always missing training sessions to look after his sick mother. He has spent a lot of his money on looking after his family.

If Salman Butt is involved in any match-fixing, I would be absolutely stunned. He is a very intelligent, polite guy and has done well since taking over the team.

I cannot remember one incident in my time as coach of Pakistan that aroused suspicion of a fix.

I had my eye on it when Asif and Shoaib Akhtar had come back from their nandrolone bans. We had a meeting about match-fixing and spot-fixing.

We were pretty consistent during my tenure. The players knew there were financial rewards for performing well.

My first reaction to this latest news was sadness. These are people I know, people I call friends. This will probably be the end of some careers.

I don't think Pakistan should be banished. We have seen them survive some incredible on- and off-field turmoil. You shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

But I will say that the present Pakistan administration cannot escape some of the blame for this. What they need right now is positive leadership and they don't have it. The Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, Ijaz Butt, is not a leader, he should not have the job.

When I was there, the board did not have people with vested interests, they were business people who treated people fairly. The first-class players were looked after and paid well and it made a difference.

It would be the greatest tragedy if a young man like Aamer has been led astray.

They have not produced a decent performance in a long time and have become the world whipping boys of cricket.

The players found guilty should be banned for minimum 5 years. Pakistan should be banned from the game for 2 years.

Zimbabwe has done nothing wrong in world cricket yet they get ostracised and pakistan get to play home games in england.

AFP

A Pakistani lawyer on Monday filed treason charges against national cricket team players facing an investigation into claims they fixed matches for money in England, he said.

Ahmed said his case will be heard in Lahore High court on Tuesday.

"In my petition to the court I've said that this spot-fixing amounts to dishonesty to the nation and falls under the law of treason," said Ahmed.

"The suspected players have let the whole nation down and abrogated the constitution of the country and if they are proven guilty they should be banned for life and their assets confiscated," lawyer Ishtiaq Ahmed told AFP.

Seven Pakistan national team players face a police investigation over the spot-fixing scandal which surfaced on Sunday in a British newspaper - News of the World.

Police have arrested and released on bail a man on allegations of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers.

Mazhar Majeed allegedly paid money to Pakistani players to under-perform during the fourth and final Test against Lord's, which Pakistan lost by an innings on Sunday.

Treason in Pakistan carries the death penalty.

Asif is apparently in on it as well, which doesn't surprise me at all.

Asif is apparently in on it as well, which doesn't surprise me at all.

I would hope he did so under the orders of his captain, but even then, he could have refused, etc.