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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday September 3, 2015
With spot-fixing bans lifted, Pakistan trio restricted at home By Mubasher Bokhari
LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - The International Cricket Council’s fiveyear bans on former Pakistan captain Salman Butt and pace bowler Mohammad Asif end today, but the long road back for the players will begin under heavy restrictions. The pair will be under strict monitoring for months before being allowed to play international cricket again, according to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). “The PCB has given me a target that includes improving fitness, attending sessions with a psychiatrist and delivering lectures to young cricketers for awareness against misdeeds as a national player,” Asif, 32, told Reuters during a prac-
Pakistan fixing trio start long road to redemption
tice session at the Model Town Ground in Lahore. “I will have to achieve the target in two months and only after that will I be allowed to play freely.”
Nigeria’s Segun Odegbami enters race for FIFA presidency ABUJA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Former Nigerian football star Segun Odegbami has announced his bid to run for president of the sport’s international governing body FIFA, his campaign chief said yesterday. The election of a new FIFA head is due to take place on February 26 next year in Zurich, Switzerland. FIFA has never had an African president. World football was thrown into turmoil this year after 14 sports marketing executives and football officials, including from Zurich-based FIFA, were indicted by the United States in late May on bribery, money-laundering and wire fraud charges. Longtime FIFA president Sepp Blatter announced his resignation in June in response to the scandal. “The current scandal at FIFA is the organisation’s worst crisis in its 111 years of existence. Moving forward, FIFA thus requires a new era of leadership ... I see myself fitting into this role,” Odegbami said in an emailed statement provided to reporters by campaign
Segun Odegbami chief Ade Adeagbo. Michel Platini, the French head of Europe’s football body UEFA, is seen as the front-runner in the race to replace Blatter, who will relinquish his mandate at the helm of world football’s governing body in the February vote. Nicknamed ‘Mathematical’ for his speed and technical control of the ball, Odegbami was the top scorer when Nigeria’s Green Eagles won the African Cup of Nations for the first time in 1980. He also served as captain of the team in 1980-81. Odegbami has previously tried to enter sports politics, having unsuccessfully run four times for head of the Nigerian Football Federation. He now runs a sports academy in Ogun state.
Butt and Asif were banned for spot-fixing during Pakistan’s tour of England in 2010, particularly for bowling deliberate no-balls by pre-arrangement during the fourth Test at Lord’s. Both have served jail sentences in Britain and were given minimum fiveyear bans by an ICC tribunal. Butt was also given a two-year suspended sen-
tence. Both players said they were ready to meet the board’s demands. “I just want to play cricket, which runs through my blood,” former captain Butt said. A PCB official told Reuters the trio would only be allowed to play “controlled cricket and start with club cricket for now.” “They will be strictly
monitored by professional cricketers and psychiatrists for a few months. If they prove their fitness and morality, they will be allowed to play domestic cricket at the first-class level,” the official said, declining to be named. A third player, fast bowler Mohammad Amir, was also banned until September but the chairman of ICC’s anti-corruption unit exercised his discretion to give him an early reprieve in January. Left-arm paceman Amir was marked as a great prospect for Pakistan in his early days. At the age of 18 he became the youngest bowler to capture 50 Test wickets during the controversial Test match at Lord’s in 2010. According to a revised anti-corruption code, a banned player can appeal to the ICC to allow him to resume playing domestic cricket before the end of the ban. The PCB had decided
to help Amir with his appeal but ruled out helping Butt and Asif with any relaxation. Though the ban is lifted, serious opposition from officials and hostility from Pakistan’s cricket-obsessed fans will mean the road to redemption will be a long one for the tainted trio. Age also weighs heavily against Butt and Asif and the long lay-off has exposed their fragile fitness. “Their return will be the biggest injustice to players who play clean cricket,” former cricket captain Rashid Latif said. “There should not be any space for criminals in international cricket.” But the players said they have served their time and hoped the nation has forgiven them. “People come to watch my practice sessions and pray for my return,” Butt, 30, said. “This shows that they have forgiven me and want to see me in action again.”
Clarke withdraws from Twenty20 contract to assess future SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) - Former Australia cricket captain Michael Clarke has withdrawn from a lucrative domestic Twenty20 contract as he reassesses whether he will ever play the sport again. Clarke retired from all international cricket after Australia lost the Ashes to England last month, with Alastair Cook’s side wrapping up a series victory after the fourth Test before Australia won the final match in London. “Right now for me, I just think my body and my mind need some time away from the game of cricket ... and just see what that’s like to be without it,” Clarke told Australia’s Triple M radio from London yesterday. Clarke was taking a break in Europe with his wife, who is expecting their
Michael Clarke is on a European holiday with wife Kyly, who is pregnant with their first child. first child, and that had given “Now I’ve finally got him the opportunity to take that opportunity I just want stock of his future, he added. to make the most of that and “Kyly and I are going spend some time with her to go away for a week or so and have a really good think. before I fly back home. And “I’m really hopeful that that’s just going to give me love and passion that I’ve some time to have a think always had for the game will about what I’m going to do come back.” when I get home. Clarke, who would have “I haven’t had a chance teamed up with controversial to press stop and have a think former England batsman about things. Kevin Pietersen at the Mel-
bourne Stars in Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL), added he still had the opportunity of pursuing the second year of his contract. “I’ve got a two-year deal at the moment, so hopefully it all turns out okay and I come back and play next year,” Clarke said. “But even if they decide they don’t want me to play, I’m hopeful I’ll be able to help the club have success in another way.” Clarke, who played 115 Tests for Australia, battled chronic back problems throughout his career, which became difficult to manage in the past two years and struggled with hamstring problems due to the back injury. He struggled with the bat since returning after surgery earlier this year and was woefully out of form on the Ashes tour.