ACB may ban overseas tours

Sydney, April 21: Australia will wait to hear the outcome of an international investigation into match-fixing before deciding whether to p...

Sydney, April 21: Australia will wait to hear the outcome of an international investigation into match-fixing before deciding whether to pull out of overseas One-Day tournaments.

Australian Cricket Board Chief executive Malcolm Speed said on Friday his board would wait to hear what came out of the London meeting before rushing into a ban on overseas matches.

“We don’t go to a lot of these tournaments anyway,” he said.

BCB chief peeved

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DHAKA: Bangladesh Cricket Board on Monday rejected South African Board Chief executive Ali Bacher’s allegation that their upset victory over Pakistan in a league tie of last year’s World Cup in England was fixed.

“I don’t believe it. Our boys played well in every department in that match. It’s an endeavour to downgrade our success,” BCB president Saber Hossain Chowdhury said here.

UCB managing director Bacher was quoted by Australian newspapers as saying Pakistan’s shock defeat – bowled out for 161 chasing 223 for victory – in their last group tie against minnows Bangladesh at Northampton was fixed. He, however, had said he did not have any evidence to back his allegation.

The BCB chief said Bacher had only indicated that rigging was a possibility and was not sure about it.

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“I don’t believe Ali Bacher has alleged about Bangladesh-Pakistan match but only indicated it as a possibility. We showed our mettle in every department in that game and beat Pakistan. Such an allegation will demoralise our cricket,” he said.

To media references that the top five Pakistan batsmen failed to reach double figures, Chowdhury said “Pakistan’s top order even struggled against (debutants) Scotland early in the tournament. So it cannot be taken as a proof”.

Chowdhury said BCB would lodge an official protest if anyone made allegations against Bangladesh. BCB is an associate member of the international body (ICC) which has been granted official one-day status.