England Test captain Andrew Strauss has labelled the International Cricket Council’s Anti-Corruption Unit a “toothless tiger” in the wake of the Pakistan spot-fixing convictions.

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt and pace bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were all jailed at Southwark Crown Court this week for corruption during the Lord’s Test in August last year.

They were brought to justice by a sting operation organised by the now-defunct News of the World rather than the ACU, which was set up 11 years ago and now operates under the chairmanship of Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the former Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

“It’s hard to be happy or satisfied when something like this happens. I think it is fantastic that there’s been some sort of repercussions for what these guys did and there’s a deterrent there,” Strauss said.

“For me, there’s still a lot of questions to be answered because they weren’t exposed by any of the cricketing members, they were exposed by the News of the World.

“I think we all know there’s no place for it in the game. We’ve got to be vigilant. I still think the ICC could be doing a lot more than they are doing.

“Unfortunately, the anti-corruption unit is a pretty toothless tiger. They can’t get into the real depth of it all because they haven’t got the resources available to them.

“I don’t hold it against them, they’re doing the best job they possibly can. They can’t do sting operations like the News of the World, they can’t infiltrate these betting networks.

“They’ve tried their best. I’m very hopeful that only a minor percentage of cricketers are involved in it, but the truth is we really don’t know.”

The spot-fixing controversy overshadowed the latter stages of Pakistan’s 2010 tour and there were tensions between the sides.

England will play Pakistan for the first time since then in January, on neutral territory in the United Arab Emirates. They could find themselves up against two players, wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal and former Kent pace bowler Wahab Riaz, who face a possible investigation by the ACU after suspicions were raised about them during the trial of Butt and Asif.

But Strauss said that facing players under ICC suspicion would not be an issue for England in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

“You play against 11 other cricketers and one of the strong traits we try to foster within the England team is you worry about your own performance,” Strauss said.

“That’s what we’ll be doing in Dubai and it’ll be another keenly contested series as it always is against Pakistan.”

The Pakistan Cricket Board has rejected claims by Amir that Pakistan players are not given anti-corruption training.

“In March 2010 Amir signed the code of conduct for players when he was issued his central contract,” said the PCB in a statement.

“The code of conduct clearly states that by signing the player commits to abiding by all ICC rules regarding betting, match fixing, corruption, and any matter that could call into question the integrity of the game. Amir acknowledged that he understood the code and his responsibilities.

“Amir also attended anti-corruption lectures, which take place before any international tour.”

The event will be held at the Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad, from June 24 to July 1.

Yousuf, who is in wilderness after the national selectors ignored him for the World Cup, will reappear on the national scene through this tournament.

Last year, his side won the title for the first time, when they defeated Afridi’s Dolphins before a packed to capacity Gaddafi Stadium.

Afridi, who has preferred to play for English county Hampshire in the ongoing T20 contest in England, is not available for the national tournament.

Abdul Rauf will skipper Multan Tigers. Sohail Tanvir will lead Rawalpindi Rams. Rao Iftikhar has been appointed captain of Islamabad Leopards.

Umar Gul will also appear for the Leopards.

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq, as usual, will be the captain of Faisalabad Wolves.

Former captain Shoaib Malik, under whose captaincy Sialkot Stallions won the national T20 events twice, will again be leading the side.

Azeem Ghuman will lead Hyderabad Hawks.

Squads:
MULTAN TIGERS: Abdul Rauf (captain), Zeeshan Ashraf, Ali Moazam, Zulfiqar Babar, Naveed Yasin, Gulraiz Sadaf, Mohammad Zahid, Mohammad Irfan, Zain Abbas, Taimoor Dogar, Rameez Alam, Yasir Arafat, Ansar Javed, Ahmed Raza.

Reserves: Mazhar Bashir, Ahsan Raza, Waqas Sahrif, Salman Khan.

Officials: Shaukat Mirza (coach), Tariq Sarwar (manager).

ISLAMABAD LEOPARDS: Rao Iftikhar Anjum (captain), Umar Gul, Raheel Majeed, Umair Khan, Naeem Anjum, Shan Masood, Afaq Rahim, Zohaib Ahmed, Zeeshan Mushtaq, Saad Altaf, Ameer Khan, Noman Masud Butt, Nasrullah Khan, Immad Wasim.

Reserves: Fakhar Hussain, Qaisar Rehman, Raja M. Kashif Khan, Faizan Riaz.

Officials: Taimoor Azam (coach), Nasir Iqbal (manager).

RAWALPINDI RAMS: Owais Zia, Naveed Malik, Umar Amin, Zahid Mansoor, Adnan Mufti, Hammad Azam, Sohail Tanvir (captain), Jamal Anwar, Mohammad Rameez, Samiullah, Raza Hassan, Muzammil Nizam, Tayyab Riaz, Saddaf Hussain.

Reserves: Rizwan Akbar, Mohammad Ayaz, Usman Saeed, Mohammad Nawaz.

Officials: Sabih Azhar (coach), Ameer Ahmed Shah (manager).

LAHORE LIONS: Mohammad Yousuf (captain), Ahmed Shahzad, Nasir Jamshaid, Umar Akmal, Shabbir Ahmed, Waqas Aslam, Kamran Akmal, Saad Nasim, Usman Salahuddin, Emmad Ali, Abid Ali, Mohammad Waheed, Aizaz Bin Ilyas Cheema, Ahmed Dar.

Reserves: Imran Ali, Adnan Rasool, Aamir Sajjad, Ali Zahid.

Officials: Azmat Rana (coach), Mian Javid Ali (manager).

KARACHI DOLPHINS: Khalid Latif, Shahzaib Hassan, Asad Shafiq, Rameez Raja, Fawad Alam, Sarfraz Ahmed, Tariq Haroon, Misbah Khan, Azam Hussain, Mohammad Sami (captain), Sohail Khan, Rameez Aziz, Tanvir Ahmed, Haris Ayaz.

Reserves: Afsar Nawaz, Junaid Ilyas, Fazal Subhan, Ali Mudassar.

Officials: Azam Khan (coach), Razzik H. Rabbani (manager).

FAISALABAD WOLVES: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Asif Hussain, Mohammad Asif, Ali Waqas, Khurram Shahzad, Abdul Rauf, Mohammad Talha, Faisal Yasin, Mohammad Shahid, Zahoor Ahmed, Mustansar, Naveed Latif, Zulqarnain.

Reserves: Ali Raza, Jehandad, Hassan Mahmood, Sabir Hussain.

Officials: Ijaz Ahmed Jr (coach), Tariq Fareed (manager).

HYDERABAD HAWKS: Azeem Ghumman (captain), Sharjeel Khan, Aqeel Anjum, Faisal Athar, Shahid Qambrani, Mir Ali Talpur, Ghulam Yasin, Ayaz Jamali, Nauman Ali, Zahid Mahmood, Farhan Ayub, Jamshaid Baig, Nasir Awais, Raja Suleman.

Reserves: Shahzad Jamali, Bilal Irshad, Naeem-ur-Rehman, Mansoor Malik.

Officials: Tauseef Ahmed (coach), Wahid Hussain Pahilwani (manager).

SIALKOT STALLIONS: Imran Nazir, Faisal Naveed, Shahid Yousuf, Shoaib Malik (captain), Mansoor Amjad, Ali Khan, Adeel Malik, Abdul Rehman, Shakeel Ansar, Sarmad Anwar, Haris Sohail, Rana Naveed-ul-Hassan, Qaisar Abbas, Ali Bhutta.

Reserves: Prince Abbas, Farhan Malik, Muntizar Mehndi, Sarfraz Ahmed.

Officials: Naveed Anjum (coach), Naeem Akhtar (manager).

As many as 12 players including fast bowlers Praveen Kumar and Munaf Patel had sought permission to play in the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) to be staged in Colombo from July 19 to August 4.

“We have decided that no Indian cricketer will be given permission to take part in the league as it is being organised by a private party based in Singapore,” the official told AFP, asking not to be named.

“The board’s policy does not allow players to take part in private tournaments,” he added.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had earlier said it had no problems with the league and that Indian players were free to take part as long as there was no conflict with international or domestic schedules.

The BCCI’s U-turn comes after media reports that the SLPL was being organised by the private Singapore-based Somerset Entertainment Ventures which the reports say has links with Lalit Modi, the sacked former boss of the Indian Premier League.

“We have indications that Modi is behind the Lankan league. A lot of his men who worked in IPL are now involved in managing this league through Somerset Ventures,” the Times of India newspaper said, quoting a BCCI official.

Modi, who now lives in London, faces criminal charges including false accounting, and accusations by the BCCI that more than $106 million dollars were misappropriated during his three-year tenure as IPL chairman.

But Modi was quick to rubbish the speculation.

“It seems best way to scuttle any plans is to say Lalit Modi is behind it,”Modi said on Twitter.

“Good to know that just mentioning my name can send a shiver down their spines.”

Relations between the Indian and Sri Lankan boards took a hit early this year after Sri Lanka asked their players to return during the IPL and prepare for the tour of England.

The Sri Lankan board later relented, saying it did not want to spoil “excellent” relations with the government of India and the Indian cricket board.

ISLAMABAD – Umar Amin, one of the brightest talents of Pakistan cricket, attributed his exit from the national team to his mistakes and poor performance.
In an exclusive interview with TheNation on Saturday, Umar said that, "I have no problem to accept that Pakistan Cricket Board has given me many opportunities but I failed to utilise them." He discussed his entry in the first class cricket in 2006 from PCB school hunt cricket where he represented City School despite being the student of Foundation School. The school did not have its own team so he decided to appear from City School platform.
After playing a season in school cricket, Umar was selected for national Under-19 team in 2007. He toured Australia in April and then England in July. Then Australia toured Pakistan. He also played a series against Bangladesh. In January 2008, Umar was selected to tour Sri Lanka for a tri-series involving England and home nation.
Soon after that series Umar went to Malaysia with Pakistan Under-19 team to play Under-19 World Cup. Umar also hold the record of being the third highest scorer after Ahmad Shahzad and Hassan Raza in Under-19 World Cup, but both Shahzad and Hassan Raza played more matches than Umar. After consistent performances he was selected for Sri Lanka home series in January 2009, but he was not selected in the playing XI. Umar finally gets his chance in the senior side in June 2009 in Asia Cup match against Sri Lanka.
After so many eye-catching performances, Umar was selected for Pakistan's home Test series against Australia at the neutral venue in UK, as the Australians were unwilling to come to Pakistan sighting so-called security concerns. Umar played two Tests against Australia and then the same number of Tests against hosts England. He accepted whole-heartedly, he doesn't perform well in those matches and accepted selectors were right in dropping him, this is unique as a player had never accepted his fault in past and always blamed selectors for their exclusion. He is determined to win back his place in the national side and training hard in the nets and playing maximum side matches to get back in to rhythm and overcome his shortcomings.

LONDON: The England and Wales Cricket Board has asked the Surrey Cricket Board to assist with its investigation into the banned Pakistan bowler Mohammad Amir’s appearance for a village side.

The 19-year-old was suspended for five years by the International Cricket Council in February after being found guilty of deliberately bowling no-balls in the spot-fixing scandal against England last year.

The ban states that Amir must not take part in any cricket-related activity but he confirmed on Wednesday that he had played for Addington 1743 on Saturday in the Surrey Cricket League, with the club website stating that he took four wickets in seven overs and made 60 runs against St Luke’s. Amir said that he had checked with the club if the match fell under the auspices of the ECB, but was told that it was a friendly.

The ECB’s acknowledgement of the incident increases the likelihood that Amir will now face sanctions from the ICC for breaching the terms of the five-year ban that he incurred earlier this year, following his involvement in the spot-fixing scandal which erupted during the Lord’s Test between Pakistan and England last August.

The ICC launched an investigation into the reports, with the ECB following suit, and the latter has asked the Surrey Cricket Board to help it look into the matter.

An ECB statement said: “The ECB today announced that it has requested the Surrey Cricket Board to assist it in its investigation of the circumstances surrounding the Pakistan cricketer Mohammed [sic] Amir’s appearance for Addington 1743 CC in a Surrey Cricket League Division One match last weekend.

“ECB has also written separately to Addington 1743 CC seeking a full written explanation from the club of the events leading up to Amir’s appearance in the match. The decision came after ECB confirmed Addington 1743 CC falls under its regulatory jurisdiction by virtue of the club being affiliated to the Surrey Cricket Board. The ECB will also continue to assist the ICC with its own inquiry into the matter.”

Amir believed that he was clear to play. He told PakPassion.net: “I was informed by club representatives before the game that it was a friendly match, being played on a privately owned cricket ground.

“I asked the club representatives if the match fell under the jurisdiction of the ECB and they informed me that the match did not. I spoke to several club representatives about the issue and they all told me that it was a friendly match and would not contravene my ban from the ICC. I was informed that I was fine to play.”

Amir also denied that he had signed any registration documents with the club and insisted that he would never have taken the risk of playing had he known it was an official match.

“I would not be stupid enough to knowingly play in a match that I knew would contravene my ban. Wherever I am going to play cricket, the world will know about it. I would not be stupid enough to play in a match where I knew that I would be taking a risk”.

Amir was central to Addington’s 81-run victory in the game, against St Luke’s CC. He surprisingly opened the innings and scored 60 before returning figures of 4 for 9 in seven overs.

 Mithun and Kumar called up as replacements for three-match series

Injured seamers Zaheer Khan and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth will both miss India's upcoming Test series against West Indies.


Left-armer Zaheer has a problem with his right ankle while team-mate Sreesanth has a right elbow injury - both will require time off for rehabilitation.

The Indian Cricket Board announced that Abhimanyu Mithun and Praveen Kumar had been called up as replacements.

Live on Sky Sportsndies v Indine 11, 2011 1:55pm
Mithun has played three Tests for his country, all against Sri Lanka last year, while Kumar has yet to make his debut in the longer form of the game, despite being a regular in limited-overs cricket.

The tourists were already without a number of players for the three-match series in the Caribbean.

Openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir are both sidelined with shoulder injuries while while Yuvraj Singh was ruled out due to a lung infection.

Veteran batsman Sachin Tendulkar, meanwhile, opted not to play in the Tests to spend time with his family.

The first Test gets underway on June 20 at Kingston, Jamaica and can be seen live on Sky Sports 1.