(REUTERS) – England have angrily rejected allegations from a senior Pakistani official that they were involved in match-fixing in the third one-day international against Pakistan.
In a strongly worded statement, the England and Wales Cricket Board rejected an allegation of match-fixing in the match on Friday which Pakistan won by 23 runs.
The allegation came from Pakistan Cricket Board Ijaz Butt in a television interview on Sunday in which he said “there is loud and clear talk in bookies’ circles that some English players were paid enormous amounts of money to lose (Friday’s) match”.
Butt and other Pakistani officials had been angered by the International Cricket Council’s decision to investigate Pakistan’s innings at the Oval after receiving information from a British newspaper about an allegedly suspicious scoring pattern.
Although Butt appeared to backtrack yesterday when he told BBC radio that he had no proof of any wrongdoing and was merely relaying information he had heard from bookmakers, the damage had been done.
A joint statement from the ECB and the England team had confirmed the tour of England and Wales would continue with yesterday’s match and the final one-day international in Southampton tomorrow.
But it called Butt’s reported comments “wholly irresponsible and completely without foundation.
“Both the ECB and Team England view the comments made by Mr Butt as defamatory and not based in fact.”
Speaking on behalf of his team, captain Andrew Strauss said there had been “strong misgivings” about proceeding with the series.
“We are deeply concerned and disappointed that our integrity as cricketers has been brought into question. We refute these allegations completely and will be working closely with the ECB to explore all legal options open to us,” he said.
“Under the circumstances we have strong misgivings about continuing to play the last two games of the current series and urge the Pakistani team and management to distance themselves from Mr Butt’s allegations.
“We do, however, recognise our responsibilities to the game of cricket, and in particular to the cricket-loving public in this country, and will therefore endeavour to fulfil these fixtures to the best of our ability.”
The decision to continue with the tour was welcomed by British Sports Minister Hugh Robinson.
“It is a pragmatic decision that is in the best interests of world cricket,” he said.
Yesterday’s match marked the first time Pakistan have played at the headquarters of world cricket since Test captain Salman Butt and pace bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif were suspended from all cricket after the fourth Test at Lord’s last month.
The suspensions followed an investigation into a newspaper report that they had deliberately arranged for no-balls to be delivered during the match.
Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola told reporters in Durban yesterday that a three-Test series against Pakistan scheduled for Abu Dhabi and Dubai next month would go ahead.
A British newspaper carried a report on Sunday quoting a South African player as saying that playing such a high profile series in the Middle East was “asking for trouble”.