Ban Pakistan from cricket, says Ian Botham / Pak chief selector lashes out at Botham

[IndiaGuy]

ONDON: Pakistan should be banned from international cricket until corruption allegations against their cricketers have been fully investigated, England great Sir Ian Botham said on Monday.

World cricket has been rocked by allegations that members of Pakistan's team fixed aspects of last month's fourth Test match against England, which led to the suspensions of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer.

Further allegations against Pakistan emerged over the weekend following their team's one-day victory over England on Friday.

The new allegations have triggered a bitter war of words between officials from the two cricket nations, with England's players expressing "outrage" at suggestions from Pakistan chairman Ijaz Butt they were involved in corruption.

Now Botham believes Pakistan should be thrown out of the sport altogether. Asked directly if he felt Pakistan should be banned, Botham replied: "In my opinion, yes. We keep sweeping things under the carpet -- enough is enough.

"The public pay the money to come and watch the game. What do they do if a catch goes down or someone bowls a no-ball? What are they thinking? Enough is enough."

Botham also rubbished Butt's allegations concerning England's players, which the Pakistan official claimed to have discovered from "bookies' circles".

"I would like to know how Ijaz Butt knows what the bookmakers are doing. Maybe he should tell us something," Botham remarked.

"It's appalling, it's farcical and it's gone on for too long now. It needs to be stamped out. If you have a cancerous problem you get to the root of it.

"If it means giving guys amnesty, saying, 'Come clean, guys, tell us what happened, then we'll move on', whether they have to serve a ban -- that's for the ICC.

"The ICC need to wake up, they need to get off their backsides. From what I can see they haven't done very much at all."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/top-stories/Ban-Pakistan-from-cricket-says-Ian-Botham/articleshow/6592719.cms#ixzz104e3Vkzy

 

[harisuae]

Botham has gone mad. Imran Khan has already taught him a lesson in his own country. Now when Pakistan team has started punishing England team, he is saying these bullshits.

Pakistan will win last ODI also. INSHAALLAH

 

[sarbakaf]

Well who is Ian botham ?
is he ICC chairman ? Chairman of ECB ? or just another tom , dick and harry ....
we dont listen to every barking animals.....but such statements are very much liked by indians coz only they can understand these barking animals....

 

[Geek]

What a moron, there is a established practice "innocent till proven guilty", and he is saying punish them just on allegation. pathetic, nonsense. bloody racist.

 

[oscar]

who cares, Botham is Sarfraz Nawaz of England

 

[Geek]

Pakistan's Imran Khan rejects calls for cricket ban

Pakistan's Imran Khan rejects calls for cricket ban



Pakistani sporting hero Imran Khan brushed aside calls to ban his nation from international cricket until corruption allegations are investigated, saying a country cannot be punished collectively.

Former England captains Ian Botham and Michael Vaughan have demanded Pakistan are kicked out of international cricket until a probe into their cricketers has been completed.

Their calls follow allegations of spot-fixing against Pakistani cricketers during their ongoing tour of England, which triggered a war of words between cricket officials from the two countries.

Former Pakistan cricket captain Khan said a country cannot be thrown out on the basis of allegations.

"In any form of illegal activity you cannot give collective punishment to a country and deprive millions of fans, more so because these are still allegations yet to be proven," Khan told AFP.

Pakistani cricket has been embroiled in the spot-fixing scandal since last month's News of the World report in which the British newspaper claimed several players took money to underperform during the Lord's Test against England.

Test captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir were provisionally suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) earlier this month as British police interviewed the players.

The police completed an initial report and prosecutors are deciding whether to press charges.

Khan said the only evidence comes from a newspaper report and its footage.

"The only evidence is that of News of the World footage showing someone (alleged bookie Mazhar Majeed) with money to be given to the players, and on that basis you cannot punish a country," said Khan, who played 88 Tests and 175 one-day matches for Pakistan.

He said the whole issue should be dealt handled with common sense and urged all parties to refrain from making "inappropriate statements", referring to comments made by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt.

Butt accused England players of match-fixing in the third one-dayer across London at The Oval on Friday.

"Butt was wrong in levelling allegations," said Khan, who now heads his own political party -- Tehrik-e-Insaaf (Movement for Justice). "Even if any other team is involved that does not absolve you."

Khan said Pakistan's cricket team has long been a target of British tabloids.

"Remember they called Wasim Akram and Waqar Younus cheats for ball-tampering when they destroyed England on the 1992 tour and when England won the Ashes series in 2005 the reverse swing became an art and skill.

"There are double standards," said Khan. "When England had fast bowlers there were no curbs on fast bowling but when the West Indies had a battery of fast bowlers it became a threat and so many curbs were put against fast bowlers like restriction on bouncers etc."

Khan stressed Pakistani cricket "has to put its house in order" adding that, "there should no longer be a PCB chairman nominated by President of Pakistan who is not accountable to anyone."

Pakistan's Imran Khan rejects calls for cricket ban

 

[Adeel]

Well who is Ian botham ?
is he ICC chairman ? Chairman of ECB ? or just another tom , dick and harry ....
we dont listen to every barking animals.....but such statements are very much liked by indians coz only they can understand these barking animals....

What Imran did to him, still hurts ;)

Botham is an all time biggest haters of Pakistanis. Just ignore the idiot.

 

[bons]

Ian Botham ko Imran ne aisa sabaq sikhaya tha ke aaj tak us ko drawnay khwab aatay hain. Jab darr kar uthta hay ho aisi baten karta hay.

 

[Night-Hawk]

What Imran did to him, still hurts ;)

Botham is an all time biggest haters of Pakistanis. Just ignore the idiot.

and so is IndiaGuy -- the poster of the post ---- :)

 

[IndiaGuy]

What a moron, there is a established practice "innocent till proven guilty", and he is saying punish them just on allegation. pathetic, nonsense. bloody racist.

This is Not Pakistan this UK.. wait and watch.

 

[IndiaGuy]

Sarfraz Nawaz was I great cricketer.

 

[pangewaaz]

i m 100% with sir ian botham.icc should take action coz pakistan itself not taking any action against these courrupt crickters.its really amazing why pakistan support all the evil of the world.if u r courrpt,terrorist.smuglur,crimnal pakistan is ready to wellcome u.present pakistan,s situation is the consequences of these blunders.but no one learning any lesson.

 

[Khurram.k]

i m 100% with sir ian botham.icc should take action coz pakistan itself not taking any action against these courrupt crickters.its really amazing why pakistan support all the evil of the world.if u r courrpt,terrorist.smuglur,crimnal pakistan is ready to wellcome u.present pakistan,s situation is the consequences of these blunders.but no one learning any lesson.

OOO hello ...sir Ian Botham's backside.... how about Indians thrown outta the game ...every second cricketer is tested positive for doping ? Everyone playing the sport under influence ? To be fair though , it's not just the sportsmen of India ... if you listen closely , manmohan singh sounds drunk and/or under other influences . cheers ! ( on coca cola of course)

 

[student]

i m 100% with sir ian botham.icc should take action coz pakistan itself not taking any action against these courrupt crickters.its really amazing why pakistan support all the evil of the world.if u r courrpt,terrorist.smuglur,crimnal pakistan is ready to wellcome u.present pakistan,s situation is the consequences of these blunders.but no one learning any lesson.

Indian corrup politician which represent more than a billion indians are exposed during arrangement of CWG event. Now until these corrupt politician get punishement what would you do... go to hunger strike???

 

[Wadaich]

hazaroon khwahisheen aisi keh har khwahish pe dam niklay

 

[Hazik]

U know this is era of propagendas, and Australia, England & India specially they r masters in it, Now Pakistan's condition is like Cat & Mouse, every one knows very well wat is happening up there. We love Pakistan team, and the players are v. talented indeed, but our PCB management is poor, they r below depth level to lead and govern a board, problems are arising from their"lagta he ek na-ahil logon ki foj itni important insitution apka jissey ke log itne ziada attached hen" it is simply strange....hamari govt itni to non-serious he, wo jo sahab 4 lakh rupe lete hen players ki security ke liye kia wo jhag mar rehen hen, Chairman chalne se halak he, manager sunne se halak he, to Ian Botham ne to advantage lena he na....

I think we know all this propagenda and we shld correct our selves, and when we do that there is v. minimal margin of opportunity for others to have these kind of bull shits over us....

 

[IndiaGuy]

i m 100% with sir ian botham.icc should take action coz pakistan itself not taking any action against these courrupt crickters.its really amazing why pakistan support all the evil of the world.if u r courrpt,terrorist.smuglur,crimnal pakistan is ready to wellcome u.present pakistan,s situation is the consequences of these blunders.but no one learning any lesson.

Totally Agreed . As you said Pakistan wel comes all courrpt,terrorist.smuglur, criminal, Innocent pakistani becames the victim of it.

 

[IndiaGuy]

Pak chief selector lashes out at Botham

Karachi: Pakistan's chief selector Mohsin Khan has lashed out at former England captain Ian Botham, describing him as a "biased, stupid, foolish" person who has an axe to grind with Pakistan cricket.
Botham, who was in Sky Sports commentary team for the recent England series, has been campaigning for Pakistan cricket to be banned by the ICC since the spot fixing scandal broke out after the fourth Test at Lord's in late August.

Botham has given statements calling on cricket playing nations to boycott and ban Pakistan cricket and Mohsin said in a television interview that he was not surprised by Botham's comments.
"He (Botham) has always had a problem with Pakistan. But it is sad that now he is not just a former player but also a commentator and expert on Sky Sports so one expects him to be unbiased in his comments on any issue," the chief selector said.
Mohsin said other former players on the commentary team including Nasser Hussain, David Lloyd, David Gower and Mike Artherton had also criticized Pakistan cricket after the spot-fixing scandal but they had kept a balance in everything and were not biased in their assessments.
"But Botham has shown himself to be a biased, stupid, foolish and a ignorant person by making such derogatory remarks against a top cricket nation. Sky should consider removing him from their panel," Mohsin said.
Mohsin pointed out even in the past when the all-rounder played against Pakistan he had problems with the team.
"In 1984, he publicly humiliated Pakistanis by stating he would not even want to bring his mother-in-law to Pakistan," Mohsin noted.
Mohsin felt the fact that Pakistan beat England in the 1992 World Cup had still not been accepted by Botham nor the fact that Imran Khan made him eat his words in a English court.
"People like Botham should not be on any commentary team, he has no right to demand banning a cricket nation because a few of its players are accused of spot fixing and the charges have not been proven as yet," he said.
Mohsin, however, admitted that the current spot fixing controversy Pakistan was facing could have been avoided had 15 years back the Board taken definitive action against those who were accused of fixing matches.
"Action should have been taken against them then and things would have been different now, I don't think any player would have had the courage to even think of getting involved in such things," Mohsin said.

 

[atensari]

Botham still licking 1992 wounds

 

[sakayani]

He is a one racist pig but he is not worth even mentioning.