London/New Delhi, Aug. 30: Pakistan set off on Monday for the next leg of their tour of England despite increasing pressure to call it off amid damaging allegations that top players were caught up in a match-fixing scandal.
The International Cricket Council and the cricket fraternity reacted with shock and dismay to claims that hundreds of thousands of pounds had changed hands in match-fixing schemes at Test level linked to betting rings dating back months.
The ICC though has ruled out any action against Pakistan players until investigations are completed. “We have discussed it within the ICC and have decided to wait for the police investigation report,” ICC president Sharad Pawar said.
“After that we have to take a viewpoint of the two boards, in this case the Pakistan Cricket Board and the England and Wales Cricket Board. If anything is established, it will be viewed very seriously by the two boards and the ICC.
“I am absolutely confident that both boards will never encourage protecting anybody who has done a wrong thing,” he said, calling the allegations themselves “quite serious”.
Pawar said he was unaware that the middleman, Mazhar Majeed, told the tabloid that he worked for an “Indian party”.
“I don’t know,” the former Board of Control for Cricket in India chief said. “The BCCI will have to take a view on that. The BCCI is one of our members and I am sure if any serious matter is there, the BCCI will take cognisance of this. I can’t come to a conclusion based on a video.”
Despite the allegations, Pakistan travelled to Taunton in south-west England on the day where they are due to play county side Somerset in a warm-up match on Thursday, ahead of the start of Twenty20 and one-day series against England from Sunday.
Somerset chief executive Richard Gould played down the prospect of further fan protests by saying: “We prepare for all contingencies but we think that is the furthest thing from what is likely to happen at Somerset”.