i'm a bit disappointed i will never see Amir face Sehwag, Sangakarra, Sachin etc. He's a really great talent and I was looking forward to seeing how much he will accomplish with his talent

Pakistanis only couldn't play in IPL-3. I remember Akthar playing for KKR in the 2nd edition. It'd be have been tough for teams to pass up on guys with stuff like Amir and Afridi for too long. It's just a shame the kid couldn't be patient.

After thinking about it for a bit i have a touch of sympathy for Amir. What chance did he have coming into the dressing room as a naive 17 year old and having a number of senior players including the captain telling him he needs to bowl a no ball or two at certain times. corruption is pretty rife in pakistan society as far as im aware, and it would take a brave figure to make a stand against the team as a 17 year old novice. Lets not forget that although only 4 players were explicitly named in the NOTW it claimed that upto 11 members of the touring team(including backup staff) were aware of fixing.

The guys i really feel sorry for though are england players and in particluar trott and broad. Their stand should have gone down in history but now this game will go down in history for all the wrong reasons and may even be expunged from the record.

Reports saying the guy behind this has been released on bail without charge. Whoopdedo

+1 for having an element of sympathy for Amir, was going to post something similar. He's only 18, and despite becoming an international star, fell into the wrong crowd, within his own team.

+1 sympathy for amir, i mean really, you never got pressured into drugs, sex, whatever at 18???? Especially when the older crew is saying go on, do it

Real shame about the waste of talent, they bowled some amazing sessions.
Hopefully there's a really good investigation and they realise, as andy said, the pressure on Amir. Perhaps 2-4 year ban is more appropriate punishment.
Did you guys read the bit about Butt intentionally batting maiden overs?

The middle man also claimed to the undercover reporter that he used to take drinks out during the game with vaseline on his hand and shake hands with the bowler to get the ball swinging.

I wasn't really sure of Kamran Akmal's involvement in all this, but I've just seen a "highlights" package of him in one of the tests against Australia and some of the things he did just look so obvious now. One of the missed stumpings looks as bad as Amir's no ball.

Disappointingly, I never got pressured into having sex by any girl, at any age.

There was definitely something shady going on in the Australia tests, I'm not surprised by this at all.

wow, quite a shame because of the young talent pakistan has with amir / u akmal etc, ridiculous that this stuff still goes on and is a serious problem at this level. some of k akmal's incompetence was truly WTF in australia, i guess this explains it. terrible for the sport

i don't see what the big deal is, i mean cmon guys its only cricket

If there is one thing for certain it's that Amir won't get a life ban, or at least a life ban that sticks. Some sports have tried it but generally find it difficult once it gets challenged in the courts, and him being so young would add to it. I'd be well pissed if I ever see the likes of Asif/Kamal ever play international cricket again though (or the IPL for that matter).

Who the hell would want to play Pakistan now? It's just not worth the hassle. I can't help thinking back to the Darell Hair/ball tampering row when they refused to play. Apparently it was because the slur on Pakistan cricket (that they may have cheated) was too much to take for such fine upstanding cricketers. What a joke that is. I bet Darell Hair (complete idiot though he is) is laughing himself silly right now.

Lawson, who coached Pakistan for 15 months between July 2007 and October 2008, said: "For me, it would be a great tragedy if a young man such as Amir, a shining light of hope, has been led astray." But he also added that Pakistan's socio-economic situation needed to be taken into account before rushing in to judge the alleged actions of its cricketers.

"We must remember that we are judging these guys by the standards of our own country, when their situations are vastly different," Lawson told The Age in Melbourne. "The first time I met Mohammad Amir was when he was 16, 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."

from cricinfo

what about bob woolmer getting murdered after pakistan lost to ireland, dodgiest thing ever.

Was thinking about this too, anyone know much about the case/ murder etc?

Will do some research tomorrow when i get time.

Random fact about Woolmer, owned a cricket shop in my town

The most shocking thing is that sfridi is the cleanest one. pakistan being involved in match fixing is nothing new ofcourse and it sucks that people like amir have to be involved. He probably wouldve been left out of he side for disciplinary reasons had he not complied.

Pakistan cricket board's fickle knee jerk reactions to everything have alot to do with this, none of these cricketers know how long thier careers will last. You lose one series and they can fire the whole side, combine that with thier current political climate where pakistan's future in international cricket is uncertain atleast in the near term and this doesnt really come as a surprise.

Also, article in today's Times implies that Amir's monthly retainer from the Pakistan Cricket Board is as low as 2,000 USD (1,300 GBP or 1,600 EUR). By way of comparison, I have made quite a bit more than that in the last few weeks, just playing 2/180s on Stars. I really am pretty mediocre at poker, while he's one of the most talented performers in a sport that is watched by a quarter of the world's population. If I had condensed those hours into one month instead of pissing away endless hours posting crap on 2+2 then I'd be on a better monthly than him.

Contrast that with the top England players; the top ECB contracts are reckoned to be worth up to £400,000. That's 2500% higher! This imbalance, plus a background in a country where corruption is a fact of life, is the root of this.

^^^The cost of living is obv much lower in Pakistan though. It's not like these guys aren't making a comfortable living. Amir is only still a very young inexperienced player so he's probably one of the lowest paid players in the side.

I really can't see that as being a legit excuse.

[ ] thinly veiled brag from TT,

grats tho.

At least they'll get a **** ton of stuff comped for them though, in Pakistan they're more than ok i presume.

Surely Amir already gets plenty of endorsement contracts? I mean, let's face it, he's not a bad looking young fellow. Everyone who has commented has felt more sympathy with him than the others, and it seems likely they will be softer on him.

wow just reminded me of this, l.o.l

So thats the retainer?
Actual earnings = that + match fees, + sponsorships.
Still it's a joke what cricketers get compared to English premier league players.

For most yes but not all. Dhoni has done pretty well for instance and some have projected earnings for top stars, as a result of the IPL etc, and predicted huge earnings for the biggest stars (mainly Indian) than would compare pretty well against most top footballers. What you won't get is as many really well paid players who are nowhere near international standard, as with football.

lol pietersen. just got in and havent read much but http://www.cricinfo.com/england-v-pa...ry/475255.html

These pakistani guys get paid basically nothing and often have large numbers of people who get paid less than that depending on them. Part of the reason for this is that their government, as well as their cricket administration (which is basically run by their government lol) is even more corrupt than the level of simply bowling a couple of no-balls. And of course there's no IPL for these players, although who could blame the IPL now?

I can't begrudge someone for fixing a game of cricket so that people in their village or whatever can have food and electricity. With that said everyone involved should be banned for life, there's really no room for tolerance of this stuff in sport. What will probably happen is that Butt and Asif will get 2-5 year bans reduced on appeal, maybe 1 year for Amir, then some small fines for everyone else involved, and they won't be able to pin anything on the ringleader for lack of evidence, regardless of how obvious the case is.