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Journalism of Courage
As pleas of leniency towards 18-year old pace sensation Mohammad Amir grew,British newspaper The Daily Mail reported that Amir will be told he could avoid a life ban if he gives evidence against his team-mates in the ongoing inquiry into the spot-fixing charges against him,Butt and Mohammad Asif.
Butt,Asif and Amir are still under investigation by the Metropolitan Police over the Lords matter but are unlikely to face criminal charges. Instead,they will face heavy punishment from the games governing body if they are found guilty by an independent panel of manipulating the Lords Test by Asif and Amir bowling deliberate no-balls at the instigation of Butt.
The ICC are investigating Australias victory over Pakistan in the Sydney Test in January but they are satisfied the match was not fixed. Their probe centres on what Sir Ronnie Flanagan,head of the ICCs Anti-Corruption Unit,calls a dysfunctional tour. The ICC believe some players might have underperformed in that Test,but they did so because they were in dispute with captain Mohammad Yousuf, the newspaper said.
Meanwhile,the ICC has asked Pakistans suspended Test captain Salman Butt and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal to give their mobile phone records for an investigation into possible spot-fixing during the Asia Cup in June. Akmal and Butt were reportedly contacted by the ICC after suspicions arose during the Asia Cup. They expect the full cooperation of both players but have yet to receive a response from the Pakistan camp, the newspaper reported. The ICC reportedly wrote to them on August 21,days before a British tabloids sting operation implicated Butt in a spot-fixing scandal.
IPL in suspicion
Meanwhile,the corruption scandal could engulf the Indian Premier League (IPL) as well with reports claiming that a leading batsman played so suspiciously in the event that he had to be moved up the order to stop him from manipulating matches.
According to a report in The Australian,quoting two unnamed IPL officials,a leading batsman had played so suspiciously that they could not explain his behaviour….both officials agreed that his perf- ormances were highly suspect. They did not want him named for fear that it could be traced back to them and lead to retribution in India, the report stated.
The newspaper said the officials found the players performances were puzzling,particularly scoring slowly towards the end of an innings when the opposite should have been happening. He consistently under-performed and often appeared uninterested or distracted.
BCCI rubbishes claims
The BCCI,however,said it was not aware of any wrongdoings in the IPL. There is a constant endeavour to check on any wrongdoing by the players. Its been there and to make it stronger we continue to be vigilant under the ICC rules and as well as IPL regulations. Everything is under constant monitoring and surveillance, IPLs interim chairman Amin said.
