Pakistan cricket fell back into turmoil and it seems that the latest saga is the most serious they have faced for some time. Allegations of spot fixing, which is to do with betting on smaller aspects of matches have surfaced.
Seven players are believed to have taken money to perform certain actions that many deem against the spirit of the game and this hurts the Pakistan brand, which was showing signs of improving.
This is no surprise though as every time the Pakistan side seem to turn a corner they put in a poor performance or some form of negative incident occurs.
Pakistan had a great win over the Australians at Headingley and backed it up with a 354-run loss to England.
Last week they defeated England with a solid all round performance and then let England off the hook and went on to lose the game.
England were 7/102 when Stuart Broad strode to the wicket and from this position Pakistan lost the game, allowing Broad to combine with Jonathon Trott for a 323 run eighth wicket stand, and then collapsing for 74 and 147.
While these on field inconsistencies are disappointing one must say that the issue that has come to light in the last couple of days has taken disappointment in Pakistan cricket to another level.
So far four players have been named: Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir and Kamran Akmal.
Akmal’s form has been average at best over the last 12 months but the other three have been key performers for Pakistan recently.
Amir appeared to be the new shining light with the ball but now will have to face the most seriousness of allegations a professional cricketer can face.
Butt has done a reasonable job as captain since taking over from Shahid Afridi but now his future as captain must surely be in doubt.
The ICC hates match fixing and anything associated with the practice. If found guilty these players will have the book thrown at them and the effect this would have on Pakistan cricket could be catastrophic.
A side that can’t play home matches and then loses some of its best players to match fixing allegations really has no chance.
Ian Noble
Guest
If you are interested look the BBC web site, www.bbc.co.uk and you find a commentary during TMS of the third over first ball by Johnathan Agnew and Phil Tufnell as pundit; titled "hugh no ball". They were not aware of the allegations that have appeared today, as the interviewee in the News od World sting confirmed a "no ball in the third over first ball". Very disappointing if true, as these young bowlers throughout the series have shown enormous promise and now could be banned for life.
Whiteline
Guest
This has been going on for a generation, they only did something wrong because they were caught... right? This is a frace and at the risk of being a broken record, it has been said many times before.