Andrew Strauss welcomes Pakistan trio bans

ICC banned Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer for spot-fixing.

By CricketCountry Staff

Perth, February 7, 2011

England cricket captain Andrew Strauss on Sunday welcomed lengthy bans handed down to three Pakistan players by an anti-corruption tribunal.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) banned former Pakistan captain Salman Butt for 10 years, seamer Mohammad Asif for seven years and emerging fast bowler Mohammad Aamer for five years on Saturday.

Butt has five years of his ban suspended, and Asif two. The trio, the first players to be suspended for spot-fixing, were charged after suspicions were raised about no-balls bowled in the Lord’s Test match in August last year.

Strauss said it was important the ICC handed down a penalty that would be a significant deterrent. “I think the important thing with any punishment is that it sends a very strong message to people that might be tempted to do it in the future, that if you do it your career is going to be substantially reduced, if not destroyed,” he said in Perth after England’s tour of Australia ended with a heavy defeat in the final one-day international.

“This sends a pretty strong signal out there. There is always potential for there to be a stronger signal and handing out life bans. But we are not party to all the evidence.”

Strauss urged the cricket authorities to take all possible measures to clean up the game. “Only the ICC and the relevant authorities know how far they are willing to dig and how thorough they are going to be on it,” he said.

“I would urge them to be as thorough as they can possibly be, if there is a whiff of something dodgy going on that degrades the whole sport.”

©AFP