i hope they ban pakistan indefinitely from cricket. putting cricket to shame. this thing has gone on too much with pakistan. i hope these mother****ers die if this is proven.

crickets going to be interesting tom when kamran and the two bowlers bat, theres been quite a bit of talk aready this match but i don't know how england will react to this.

i mean i can see asif doing this because of his history and akmal because hes obviously a dick but why would you influence a sensationally talented 18 year old into cheating

has a test team ever not been able to field a player because hes been arrested/questioned by police?

It's in the News of the World, so it must be correct, right?

I dunno. There have been FC games where players have died mid-game, and one in India (I think) where a team had a very sudden batting collapse and a lower order player was listed absent (bathing).

our local league has had a heap of absent (work) but the funniest one in semiseriousness was absent (pussywhipped) after a guy went home to his wife midgame.... Only effectively pub league cricket though...

Cricinfo isn't always 100% accurate but for them to post this on the front page, it's probably pretty legit...also they are being interviewed by scotland yard - there's really a scotland yard! thought it was just those books.

Wow,what a shame.

Only scanned thru scum of world article as using phome.


Was the only cheating no balls etc? Or does it go into more detail about other bets?
If its no balls only then its hardley outright match fixing (not defending it tho), if its more than that eg throw your wicket away, then oh boy, such a shame.

i think the no balls at certain times was proof that the fix was on, but i read the article yesterday

it was only suggested that it was no balls this test but the middle man suggested that the australia pakistan test in australia which pakistan lost when it was harder to lose than win(sydney i think?) was fixed and they made $1.3 mill. http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news...sie-match.html. i mean this report is just hearsay and could be just bull**** bragging but the evidence in the no ball situation is as clear as day as they actually predicted the exact balls that were going to be bowled before it happened

it also suggests they would rig 2 odis against england later this summer but it was going to be harder because afridi wouldn't take their bribes( lol at this irony) http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news...nationals.html



the fact that they are fixing the game in any way is terrible and they should all get life bans and prison time, how can you concentrate on the game when 4 of your players are concentrating on bowling no balls at specific times. I actually feel sorry for the pakistan fans. they going through this humanitarian disaster with the floods and yet their heros are being shown up as cheaters. How can a cricket fan ever turn up at a game involving pakistan and not fear the game has been rigged.

I'd like to say I'm shocked, but frankly, with Pakistan's less than sparkling history with these kind of antics, I'm not. All that can be done is ban those involved for life and cross one's fingers. The idea that these players "needed the money as the PCB pays them peanuts" is fairly laughable in this era of the IPL and the silly money paid therein. Especially a bowler with the talent of Amir, he could have probably been one of the top paid players at the next auction - and now he probably won't ever play again in any form of cricket.

I'm shocked too. Shocked at the fact that this disclosure is some sort of news item. What did anyone expect?

although the NOTW is scum, this is pretty solid looking evidence. Scum pakistan, ban them all for life

This has been talked about in county cricket this season as well. Some players have been arrested so this could be even bigger than what it seems right now. Not surprising that Pakistan have been involved though. How many scandals have they been involved in over the last 10 years. It's a joke that Asif is allowed to play anyore anyway but the whole team needs banning from international cricket because there is obviously something wrong high up in the PCB not just with some of the players. It's really disappointing to see Amir involved though because he's a really exciting young player. I doubt many people really care about the rest.

Wasn't there something in what became recognised as the first test match?

It's a long, long time since I read about it but England had been beaten by a NSW/S Aus XV and an XI a side was arranged.

Meanwhile England went to NZ to play sone games there. One of the England players was held by police before their return to Oz and there were suggestions that Sydney bookies may have been involved in the decision to arrest.

This is one of the no-balls in question, from Muhammad Amir.



He's about 8 inches past the popping crease. Given how they are usually on the line and in the same place to within an inch or so every time, if this is merely a genuine overstep then it is so far off the scale it's unreal. The alleged dodgy no-ball by Asif, as would be expected from a canny old pro, is only an inch or so over, but as a callow kid, Amir couldn't really do it properly and went so far over to be certain that it was also far too obvious.

It is spot fixing. It's artificially altering an outcome. It's just as bad. At the moment it's not match fixing in the sense that they haven't affected the overall result of the match, but it starts from the odd no ball and moves on from there as they become sucked in for more money.

This.
Asif and Akmal I couldn't give a f*** about; Asif is a multi-disciplined cheat and drug user, whose drug conviction should have meant he wasn't even let into the country (he had to miss their games in Abu Dhabi because the UAE denied him entry for this reason) and Akmal is just about the worst keeper in international cricket anyway. But Amir can bowl and should have had a glittering career in front of him. But at just 18 years old he's still a naive kid and he's been corrupted. It's a real shame.


I don't think this is the answer. The problem is that the combination of the high profile of their games and relatively poor financial status of their players in comparison with their peers in international cricket makes them the prime targets for the organisers of these betting scams. If you remove Pakistan then the betting scams will simply move on to the next most attractive target, which I would tentatively guess would be the West Indies.

The scammers won't give up on it if Pakistan were banned, because there's simply too much money in it for them. Globally, more money is wagered on cricket than on any other sport; neither horse racing nor football, nor anything else, even come close to the sums bet on cricket.

Just read the article...it seems that the captain maybe a ring leader. To think of all the things he's being saying, what a total POS. I hope he gets nailed totally.

How much money does a Pakistani international cricketer make? Obviously what happened is not good, and as a sports fan I want the assurance that what I am watching hasn't been contrived in any way, however (in)significant in the context of the match. A small part of me, though, finds it understandable under some circumstances and especially so if the behind the scenes characters are very "persuassive".

I think it's wrong but I'm not going to vilify the players involved untill we know more.

Pakistan cricket looks pretty bleak anyway. I don't know how they took a test match off us. I think Bangladesh gave us a better run for our money, on balance.

Amir won Pakistan's Player of the Series and wasnt looked at, touched or spoken to at the entire awards presentation. The head of the ECB just shoved his check into his hand and that was it. Also the entire awards presentation was held indoors and looked like the most depressing thing ever. So awkward.

Its a shame about Amir. He clearly has great talent and deserved his player of the series as he was great but now, he could easily never play test cricket again. Obviously he'd deserve it, but still a shame imo

The Sri Lanka - Pakistan game in the Asia Cup was also mentioned as being fixed. Look at this scorecard. Wow. Not only do most of the batsmen fall to terrible shots or run outs but at the end they're trying to run out Afridi to prevent the win (who has been mentioned as one of the few clean players).

You mean the Pakistan players were trying to run out Afridi?

I think it's quite funny that Afridi is considered one of the clean players. If you were asked before all this came out who you thought a clean Pakistan player would be, Afridi would have been bottom of most peoples list.

Cricinfo match report

(or not)

(bold from original article)

Source that Pakistani players are poorly paid??

These players have opportunities to earn loads in the IPL and numerous other legit sources.

Look at the photo of the no ball above, Butt is looking right at Amirs front foot to see if he oversteps

Is this the same paper that exposed John Higgins?

Pakistanis can't play in the IPL. Check the team rosters, not one of them has a Pakistani. They are effectively barred because of the political situation between India and Pakistan, which means that they can't get visas. Not only does this mean they miss out on the wages, they also miss out on the lucrative endorsements that would come their way if they played.