Australian Paki Cricket Scandal: Warne, Ponting Speak Out

The Sydney, Australia leg of the Pakistan cricket scandal has become the talk of the town. Discussed by what has happened to their game at the hands of the Pakistan cricket team, Aussie legends Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne speak out. Media Man and Gambling911 offer a special delivery no spin, fast ball account of the latest on and off the field action...

Shane Wants 4 Live Bans On Those Corrupt: Hit Them Out For 6...

It's just not cricket. Never has their been a more apt figure of speech directed at cricket, or what's left of the once great sport...or pastime.

Any "players" (match fixing mongrels) found guilty of being involved in match-fixing or any other form of illegality related to gambling in cricket should be banned for life, former Australian spin king Shane Warne has gone on record with. A Brit local rag paper made allegations last weekend that Paki bowlers Mohammad 'Ask For Money' (MM tag) Asif and Mohammad 'Ask Again' (MM tag) Amir were paid shils to deliberately bowl no-balls during their 4th test against England at Lord's, which concluded on Sunday. Paki test captain Salman 'Nice' Butt, Asif and Amir are to front their country's High Commissioner in London to discuss the allegations, while Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt will also attend the meeting. So much attention hey boys. Did you think you would get away with screwing over the cricket world? - fans, media and business. "If it is true and they have been found (guilty of) match-fixing and throwing games and spot betting with the no-balls and stuff, if that's the case they should be thrown out," Warne told a press pack down south in Melbourn. "If it's fixed by players, they should be banned for life. Anyone who's involved should be thrown out. The ICC have to flex their muscles and just go after Pakistan." Warnie, who was fined for admitting he had taken money from an Indian bookie for providing pitch and weather information in 1994, said he had been shocked by the latest allegations, especially since the International Cricket Council had instituted an anti-corruption unit. "I thought that the game was clean now with the anti-corruption people there," Warne added.

Ricky Ponting Shocked, Blown Away And Pissed Off At What's Become Of Cricket...Thanks To Paki's...

Captain Ricky Ponting says he is "blown away" and then some by the extent of the bet - rigging allegations on the Paki team sters. "I'm absolutely shocked at some of the things that I saw on the TV [in] the past couple of days and some of the footage from Lord's … I'm just blown away by some of these allegations". Ponting advised he hoped the International Cricket Council's investigation would quickly determine the veracity of the allegations levelled against Paki captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif. Many press and insiders are saying that much of the Paki team has blood on their hands, but they are not admitting guilt.

An insider said "Blind Freddy can see many of the Paki players are corrupt. We've see the film, the cash. Do they think we are friggen stupid mugs or something. Thanks for spoiling our game you dogs".

Ponting adds "Hopefully, the ICC can get to the bottom of this stuff as quickly as possible because … it might even be games that I've played in, where I've been totally oblivious to anything that's happening around me. The Sydney Test is a great example of coming back from where we were and winning what I thought at the time … was one of the great Test wins I've been involved in,"

He was quoted on Melbourne based SEN Radio. "Seeing Nathan Hauritz take 5 wickets on the last day and Mike Hussey making a 100 to give us a chance to win, all of a sudden those games and individual performances can be tainted.".

Can be, or have been? Paki's may soon 'have beens' and 'never weres". Aussie players and management, officials etc al have defended the January's Test "win" over Pakistan since corruption allegations raised their ugly head earlier this year. At time of publication none of the 3 players and the Cricket Australia official who spoke publicly were willing to repeats their comments. Rather, they all said they had been confident the win was legitimate. Do you smell the same rat we do?

"The Sydney game is a game we thought we had won fair and square," Cricket Australia PR type spinner Peter Young said. "The Australian cricketers are shocked to hear this. They were convinced they won the game fair and square."

Similarly, Hauritz said he "would like to think we still won that Test fair and square".

Hussey said he "honestly felt that we won that game on merit", while Ponting insisted that "certainly not through the middle of that game was there any thought at all (of corruption). I guess we would just like to think that we totally outplayed them for the last 3 or 4 days of that Test match,'' the captain said.

Cricket Australia is not speculating whether the allegations could dissuade or even prevent The Aussies from future series against Pakis.

"Let's wait and see what the outcomes of the Scotland Yard and ICC investigations are before we start leaping to conclusions," Young said.

He was also confident that Australia's licensed betting operators were not susceptible to the exploitation revealed at Lord's. James Packer's Betfair and competitor, Centrebet, are following the situation extremely closely. Rumors of death threats against some of the Pakis are on fire, and most of the Pakistan population is ashamed of their cricket team noted a number of wire services. Paki professional cricket may be on life support, as hard as that may be to believe. Stay tuned, and check in 1 week from now.

*Greg Tingle is a special contributor for Gambling911

*Media Man http://www.mediamanint.com is primarily a media, publicity and internet portal development company. They cover a dozen industry sectors including gaming.