Controlling spot-fixing “almost impossible” for PCB, ICC: Ijaz Butt

KARACHI - Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt believes it is impossible to completely eradicate spot-fixing, not only for the board but also for the International Cricket Council (ICC).

“To control the spot-fixing, especially prior to its happening, is almost impossible not only for the PCB but for the ICC as well,” The Nation quoted Butt, as saying in an interview to News One channel.

“It has to be an all out effort from all concerned to ensure that such wrongdoing does not occur in the future,” he added.

On the measures taken by the PCB to eradicate corruption from the game, Butt, without elaborating, vowed to come down even harder on the culprits in the future.

“PCB and ICC have taken a lot of steps, future plans have been drafted to pursues a policy of zero tolerance to corruption,” he maintained.

The spot-fixing scandal had rocked the cricket world after a British tabloid claimed that a bookmaker Mazhar Majeed had bribed three Pakistani players- Salman Butt, Muhammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif- to deliberately bowl no-balls during the fourth Test against England at Lord’s in August.

The ICC quickly sprang into action following the allegations, and provisionally suspended them in early September.

The tainted trio face an ICC tribunal in Doha from January 6-11, which will decide whether their suspensions turn into bans, or they are absolved of the charges.

They also face a potential criminal case from Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service, which received two reports from Scotland Yard that raided the Pakistani team’s hotel in London. (ANI)