Pakistan v England - conflict and controversy
Shahid Hashmi
Pakistan and England face each other on Tuesday for the first time
since the infamous 2010 spot fixing scandal which ended with three
Pakistani players sent to prison.
Since they first clashed in international cricket in 1952, the two
countries have been at the centre of number of conflicts and
controversies.
Here AFP Sport examines five flashpoints:
2010: Spot-fixing scandal
- One of the biggest fixing controversies in the history of the game
was unearthed by the now defunct British tabloid the News of the World
on August 28, 2010 when they revealed Pakistani pacemen Mohammad Asif
and Mohammad Aamer contrived with captain Salman Butt and agent Mazhar
Majeed to bowl deliberate no-balls during the Lord’s Test.
The scandal rocked the game. All four accused were interrogated by
Scotland Yard before an anti-corruption tribunal of the International
Cricket Council (ICC) handed the three players lengthy bans.
A British court then sent Majeed to jail for 32 months, Butt for 30
months, Asif for 12 months and Aamer for six.
Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt enraged the England team by
alleging they’d been involved in fixing a one-day game at The Oval
during the same series. Those allegations put the last two matches in
doubt as England demanded an apology from Butt. He finally retracted and
apologised.
2006: Oval fiasco
- Australian umpire Darrell Hair and West Indian colleague Billy
Doctrove penalised Pakistan five runs for ball-tampering on the fourth
day of the fifth and final Test of the 2006 series against England at
The Oval.
So incensed were Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq and his side they
refused to take the field after tea and were thus deemed to have
forfeited the match - the first time this had happened in Test cricket
history.
After a hearing presided over by ICC chief match referee Ranjan
Madugalle, Pakistan were cleared of ball-tampering but Inzamam was
banned for four one-day internationals for bringing the game into
disrepute.
Under pressure, the ICC then declared the game a draw before
reverting to their original decision of an England win.
2005: Afridi damages pitch
- Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi was caught on television
scraping his boots on the surface when play was held up after a gas
cylinder exploded during the Faisalabad Test of England’s 2005 tour.
Umpire Hair and England batsman Marcus Trescothick noticed the
difference in the pitch and the suspicions were confirmed by television
footage. Afridi pleaded guilty to a level three breach of the ICC code
of conduct and was handed a ban of one Test and two one-day
internationals.
1992: ‘Ball-tampering’ saga
- Pakistan’s fearsome pace duo of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis
demolished England with unprecedented reverse swing but were labelled as
“cheats” by the English media on the 1992 tour. Pakistan won the
five-match Test series 2-1 with Waqar claiming 22 wickets and Wasim 21.
Finally the saga took an ugly turn when the umpires had to change the
ball during the Lord’s one-dayer, suspecting ball-tampering. Pakistan
team manager Khalid Mahmood defended his bowlers but the allegations
reverberated during the tour and the relationship between the two teams
continued to remain bitter.
1987: Gatting-Rana row
- Mike Gatting, England’s captain on the 1987 tour of Pakistan, had a
finger-wagging row with Pakistani umpire Shakoor Rana which made
worldwide headlines and almost led to the tour being called off.
After losing the first Test on a controversial note, Gatting got
entangled in a row with Rana. The skipper was accused of moving a
fielder during the bowler’s run-up. Rana stopped the game and called
Gatting a “cheat” to which the England skipper prodded his finger at the
Pakistani umpire. Rana refused to stand again until he received a formal
apology.
The entire third day was lost and the tour was nearly called off
before high-level government influence saw it continue. |