Strauss hopes ICC ban on Pak trio ‘just the start of process’ to eliminate corruption
By ANIMonday, February 7, 2011
PERTH - England captain Andrew Strauss has urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to be as thorough as possible in cleaning up corruption at cricket’s highest level.
Strauss’ comment comes after former captain Salman Butt was banned for 10 years, with five years suspended, while fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were handed bans of seven years with two suspended and five years respectively.
The charges relate to alleged incidents during last year’s Lord’s Test against England, when Britain’s ‘News of the World’ tabloid claimed the players were willing to deliberately bowl no-balls.
“I think the important thing with any punishment is that it sends a strong message to people who might be tempted to do it in the future that if you do it, your career is going to be substantially reduced if not completely destroyed,” the Age quoted Strauss, as saying.
“I think this sends a pretty strong signal out there, obviously there is always the potential to send a stronger signal and handing out life bans. But the guys have the evidence, we’re not party to all that evidence, I think it is a good thing that the game is cleaning itself up.”
“This is just the start of a process, only the ICC and the relevant authorities know how far they are willing to dig and how thorough they will be on it. But I would urge them to be as thorough as they possibly can be on it because, as we’ve said before, if there is a whiff of something dodgy going on, that degrades the whole sport,” he added. (ANI)
