‘Spot-fixing’ scam diverted attention from possible ‘home games’: Butt

LAHORE - Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ijaz Butt has said that the tour of England ’spot-fixing’ scam has ruined the country’s chances of holding ‘home games’.

Leading cricket teams have refused to visit Pakistan following last year’s terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team bus, which has also forced Pakistan to hold its ‘home’ series against Australia and England in England.

“The ICC Task Force was well on its way to bringing a MCC XI team to Pakistan in which two players of each cricket board were to be included. Moreover, Zimbabwe were also interested in sending their national team to Pakistan,” the News quoted Butt, as saying.

“The current spot-fixing scam has diverted attention to other issues as work of inviting some teams to Pakistan could not be materialized,” he added.

Butt also said that at the moment there is no space left in the cricket calendar to accommodate a visiting team.

“There is no appropriate time left for such activities due to hectic schedule of Pakistan till the World Cup,” Butt said.

The ICC’s Pakistan Task Force Chairman, Giles Clarke, had called for Pakistan to resume hosting international matches back in August.

He had suggested that an ICC World XI would tour the country “in due course”.

In the last two years, Pakistan ‘home’ games have also been staged in the United Arab Emirates and New Zealand.

Pakistan, which was due to co-host the 2011 World Cup, was also stripped of its matches following the attack on the Sri Lankan team.

Pakistan was supposed to hold 14 matches, including one semi-final. Eight of Pakistan’s matches have been awarded to India, four to Sri Lanka and two to Bangladesh. (ANI)