PCB needs to act tough to curb fixing: Boycott

LONDON - Former England captain Geoffrey Boycott Monday said the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) should act strongly on the spot-fixing allegations involving Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif and cited as an example the strict measures taken by the Indian board during the 2000 match-fixing episode.

Boycott said he’s not surprised to see Pakistan in a fixing scandal yet again as they never dealt with them properly. He recalled the way the Indian board took swift decisions during the Hansie Cronje match-fixing scandal and banned former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin and Manoj Prabhakar for life.

“It is no coincidence that Pakistan are repeatedly implicated in these scandals, because they never deal with them properly,” Boycott wrote in the Telegraph.

“People might get suspended or banished from the team, but within a few months the regime changes, and they are back again, as if nothing had happened.”

“Pakistan must join the rest of the world in deploring what happened at Lords. There is no point them trying to turn a blind eye.”

On the match-fixing scandal that rocked the cricket fraternity ten years ago, Boycott said: “Look at the Indians and their response to the revelations surrounding the Hansie Cronjé affair a decade ago.”

“Mohammad Azharuddin and Manoj Prabhakar were among the players implicated. They were never convicted in a criminal case, but the Indian board was strong. They never played for India again, nor did Ajay Jadeja, even though his ban was quashed in 2003.”

“Having tainted players in your dressing-room can damage the team’s morale, as well as its credibility,” wrote Boycott.

The cricketer-turned-commentator feels 18-year-old Aamer deserves a lengthy ban.

“I am particularly concerned about the size of the no-balls sent down by Mohammad Amir. Professional cricketers play the game within small fractions. It is hard to see how he could have run up and bowled a no-ball by 12 inches without realising he is going to overstep.

“I think the ICC’s anti-corruption unit should offer Mohammed Aamer a plea bargain. But I still believe that he deserves a lengthy ban - seven years, perhaps - if he is shown to have bowled no-balls to order.”