Mohammad Amir name Disappeared from Lord's honours board

Troubled Mohammad Amir could become the first player in history to be scrubbed from the Lord's honours box.

If Amir's complicity in a betting scam is proved, the Pakistan fast bowler faces the shame of his 6-84 in the Tainted Test being airbrushed from the scroll of honour.

Traditionally, players who score a century, take five wickets in an innings or 10 wickets in a Lord's Test match are celebrated in gold-leaf paint on the dressing-room honours board.

Amir was destined for the privilege after taking four wickets in eight balls last Friday. But after damning evidence that the 18-year-old bowled no-balls to order, his place on the scroll is under threat.

The tour must not be abandoned ..it is the ONLY way to save cricket

England's one-day series with Pakistan must be used to help restore the public's faith in cricket.

That is the verdict of Surrey chief executive Paul Sheldon, whose club is due to host the third one-dayer between the sides and who is keen to see the game's integrity restored in front of the public gaze.

Sheldon, who watched on four years ago as Pakistan refused to play on his ground over a ball-tampering row, was worried that any cancellation of the matches would have been a disaster and tantamount to giving in to those who are dragging cricket through the mud.

Instead, he is glad that the series appears to be secure and he believes it must be used as a tool to try to begin a rebuilding process with cricket fans saddened by the events of the weekend.

"It is a terrible time for the game," said Sheldon. "And you can't put a gloss on this whole incident at all because it is very damaging and clearly a big dampener has been put on things.

"While one mustn't put the credibility of the game at risk with all the fans who support it and make cricket possible, we need to make sure we host the one-day series and try to make the good things about the game the real focus.

"We have to remember that the game has pulled through similar situations like this before, particularly the Hansie Cronje incident and we came through the other end of that with the game still intact.

"These are only allegations at the moment. They are very serious indeed but, just as the game has done before, I've no doubt we will pull through together in the same way.

"It would be devastating if we didn't have our match at the Brit Insurance Oval. We certainly don't want to punish those fans who want to turn up and watch a decent game of cricket."

Sheldon's views were echoed by ICC president Sharad Pawar, who was locked in conference calls with his counterparts at the ECB and PCB throughout yesterday. He said: "It is the desire of the ICC, England and Pakistan that the game is continued." Despite the tour being kept alive there are huge doubts over whether Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir will take part once investigations are completed.

Former England fast bowler Bob Willis believes the only way the series can have any credibility is for the trio to be suspended pending the full investigation.

Willis, now a Sky Sports commentator, said: "A suspected fraud in a British company would see an executive suspended with or without pay while the investigation took place and that is what the Pakistan Board should do.

"They should suspend the players who have been implicated from the tour and let the matches go ahead.

"This could take the heat out of things and the only course of action if the matches are to go ahead. I can't believe anyone would be happy if they took the field.

"The MCC with their sponsoring of the Spirit of Cricket Test series with Australia and the ECB chairman Giles Clarke have bent over backwards to help Pakistan in difficult times when they can't play at home and this is the thanks they get."

Even if the three players are left out of the Pakistan side to play England on Sunday in Cardiff, it may not be enough to persuade the Pakistani public to support their team.

Around 5,000 tickets remain unsold for the T20 and more than 10,000 for the second match on Tuesday.

Glamorgan chief executive Alan Hamer is worried about the impact the scandal will have.

Hamer said: "We're not sure whether the events of the weekend have spoiled the matches and whether people will be cynical about coming.

"For games against Pakistan, you rely on late purchases from their supporters, but with these allegations against their players we don't know if it will turn them off.

"We hope not and we hope we have two sell-out crowds.

"It was supposed to be about the current T20 world champions against the former champions, but I don't suppose that is going to be the focus now."

COUNTDOWN TO CRISIS: PAKISTAN TIMELINE

January 2010: Australia, just 49 runs ahead with only two second-innings wickets remaining, manage to set Pakistan 176 to win the Sydney Test - aided by Mohammad Yousuf's bizarre field placings and a spate of dropped catches. Nathan Hauritz takes 5-53 as Pakistan fall 36 runs short and the Aussies complete a fightback.

February: Shahid Afridi is banned for two Twenty20 internationals after TV evidence catches him twice biting the ball, ostensibly to engender reverse swing, during a narrow two-wicket defeat by the Aussies in Perth. Pakistan lose the series 5-0.

March: Yousuf and former captain Younis Khan are banned indefinitely after a Pakistan Cricket Board inquiry into the hopeless tour of Australia, where they lost every international fixture. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Shoaib Malik are banned for a year and three others, including Afridi, are fined.

July: Afridi, who has taken over as captain for the series against Australia, announces his retirement from Test cricket after Pakistan are well-beaten in the first Test at Lord's. Pakistan level the series with a thrilling threewicket win at Headingley.

August: With Salman Butt now in charge, Pakistan lose the Test series 3-1 after being bowled out for 80, 72 and 74. Yousuf is recalled to shore up their batting at The Oval, where they donate half their 500,000 rupees-a-man win bonus to the flood relief fund back home.

August: The storm breaks - Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif, Kamran Akmal and Butt are implicated in the betting scam where Amir and Asif allegedly bowl no-balls to order to help betting syndicates rake in millions of dollars.

England v Pakistan, remaining tour dates

Sep 5 T20, Sophia Gardens

Sep 7 T20, Sophia Gardens

Sep 10 ODI, Riverside

Sep 12 ODI, Headingley

Sep 17 ODI, Oval

Sep 20 ODI, Lord's

Sep 22 ODI, Rose Bowl

Pakistan fixing players facing axe from tour after crisis summit with PCB

Pakistan's Mohammad Amir is one of three players
 facing the axe after the betting scandal.

The three Pakistan players at the centre of a betting scandal will travel to London for a summit meeting on Thursday that is likely to see them dropped for the rest of the tour. The Pakistan captain, Salman Butt, and the bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif will be brought before the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, Ijaz Butt, the country's high commissioner and lawyers.

It also emerged yesterday that Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs made three arrests on Sunday in connection with a long-standing investigation into money laundering, believed to be centred on Croydon Athletic, the Ryman League club owned by the man at the centre of the News of the World sting, Mazhar Majeed.

"Three individuals were arrested on Sunday as part of an ongoing investigation into money laundering. This includes two 35-year-olds (a male and a female) from the Croydon area, and a 49-year-old male from the Wembley area," said HMRC in a statement. "These individuals were arrested, questioned and have been bailed pending further investigation."

Police had already confirmed that Majeed, who is close to members of the Pakistan team and is alleged to have accepted £150,000 to ensure no-balls were bowled at certain points during the opening day of the fourth Test last week, had been arrested on Sunday and released on bail in connection with a separate investigation into the Sunday newspaper's claims.

It is understood that the 35-year-old Majeed was one of the three people referred to in the HMRC statement. The pivotal meeting was called following a conference call between the PCB, the Pakistan government and the high commissioner about how best to deal with claims that have precipitated a crisis in the game.

Along with the wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, the three players were implicated in a betting scam in which they were alleged to have been paid by Majeed to deliberately bowl no-balls during specific overs of the fourth Test against England at Lord's. As a sign of the confusion within the Pakistan camp, the team management appeared conflicted over the exact timing of the meeting, with one official last night insisting it would go ahead on Thursday while others expected it to happen tomorrow. Regardless of the timing, the trio will then return to Taunton where the tourists are due to play a warm-up match against Somerset on Thursday.

Unusually, their nets session – minus the three accused players – was closed to the media as the squad attempted to escape from the circus that has engulfed the touring party since Sunday's allegations. Although the PCB will continue to stress that the players are innocent until proven guilty, with International Cricket Council investigators yet to interview them in order to avoid prejudicing the parallel police inquiry, it is likely that a form of words will be found to omit them from the rest of the tour.

The England and Wales Cricket Board and the ICC had lobbied the PCB to omit the players from tomorrow's warm-up match as well as the Twenty20 and one-day internationals that follow. It is understood that their wish will be granted, guaranteeing the ICC some breathing space before deciding on its next move. With police set to re-interview the three players named by the News of the World as having been involved in the scam at the behest of Majeed before the end of the week, investigators from the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit will move quickly to follow suit.

The trio will be confronted with the allegations as well as separate evidence gathered by the unit, but it is by no means certain investigators will announce a definitive conclusion before Sunday's Twenty20 match.

Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, said he hoped there would be "some sort of a conclusion" to the investigation by the weekend, insisting "prompt and decisive action" would be taken against anyone who sought to harm the game's integrity. He said: "Make no mistake, once the process is complete, if any players are found to be guilty, the ICC will ensure that the appropriate punishment is handed out. We will not tolerate corruption in this great game." Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the former Police Service of Northern Ireland chief who took over as chairman of the unit three months ago, is believed to have remained in Abu Dhabi but is in hourly contact with his investigators, police and cricket authorities. The Pakistan interior minister, Rehman Malik, said yesterday he wanted to wait for the police report before sending an investigation team to England.

Although the ECB stands to lose between £10m and £12m if the rest of the series is cancelled, it acknowledges that the longer-term damage to the sport's integrity and its commercial viability will be much greater if a cloud of suspicion hangs over the remaining matches.

Sponsorship specialists warned yesterday that the scandal would have a direct impact on revenues if not properly dealt with by the ICC. "Will this affect Pepsi in Pakistan? Probably not. But the impact will be felt at their corporate headquarters in the US," said Rupert Pratt, managing director of Generate Sponsorship.

"Likewise with nPower. It doesn't look very good for your chief executive to be making a presentation that is tainted and portrays values that are the absolute opposite of those you are trying to project as a sponsor."

He said cricket sponsors had already cancelled all their national newspaper advertising because of the negative impact of the story and that the implications would snowball if the authorities were not seen to deal effectively with the problem.

"Five years ago, cricket used to be seen as a traditional, safe sponsorship. Now it is a hot potato, it's a potentially risky investment. The main impact will be felt in two or three years' time if this isn't stamped out.".

Kevin Pietersen on Twitter: I've been dropped by England

How Kevin Pietersen dropped himself via Twitter today.

Kevin Pietersen is facing disciplinary action after reacting angrily on Twitter to being dropped from England's squad for the Twenty20 and one-day internationals against Pakistan.

Pietersen's outburst, several hours before England's squad was officially revealed, will be investigated by the England and Wales Cricket Board, which has issued strict instructions to all players that Twitter should be used in a responsible fashion.

Pietersen, dropped by England for the first time after a summer of torment, vented his feelings on his account kevinpp24. The post, quickly removed, read: "Yep. Done for rest of summer!! Man of the World Cup T20 and dropped from the T20 side too.. Its a fuck up!! Surrey have signed me for l ..."

Pietersen had found himself up against Twitter's 140-character limit. What he wanted to say was "...for loan".

England believe Pietersen will benefit from a change of scene ahead of the Ashes, although initially at least they failed to convince him of that. His pride has been stung by his omission so close to the start of the Ashes tour, although his response did not go down well with Geoff Miller, England's national selector.

"I don't like that kind of language and I don't use that language at all," Miller said when asked his views on the rant. "I don't follow Twitter and I'm not a great believer in that kind of thing. I don't think it is necessary. I'm still the national selector and what I do is select sides with my co-selectors that we think is right for England. My priority is the England side and it is not about individuals.

"We make our decisions honourably and loyally for the England cause and we'll continue to do so. It is not about and individual it is about the team. "I'll talk to KP. Whether there is an apology or not I'm sure [coach] Andy Flower will have a word with him. I'll be watching games that he is participating in before the end of the season and this won't stop me talking to Kevin Pietersen, and if he wants to apologise or thinks there is a need to apologise then so be it, I will certainly explain to him what my feelings are."

Pietersen's outburst contrasted markedly with his emollient, ECB-approved words released later when the squad was officially announced. "I fully understand the reasons... I have no issue with the selectors omitting me... my sole focus is now working on my game."

The 30-year-old has signed for Surrey for the rest of the season, an arrangement agreed at the ECB's request, as they try to plan his recovery of form in county cricket in the build up to the Ashes. England have harboured fears that he might fail to win a county deal after his Hampshire contract was ended early because he wanted to play for a county close to his Chelsea home. They will hope that the Surrey move proves a forced marriage made in heaven. Chris Adams, Surrey's professional cricket manager, said: "I have no doubt Kevin will be a positive influence on and off the field."

Pietersen was a key contributor in World Twenty20 as England won their first major one-day title, and was named player of the tournament, but since then he has seemed mentally drained and technically vulnerable. He briefly returned from World Twenty20 for the birth of his first child and, although a hard worker in the nets, he has occasionally seemed a distracted figure. He has managed just one half century all summer, an error-strewn 80 in the second Test against Pakistan at Edgbaston when he laughed at his good fortune. And his season reached its low point with a first-ball dismissal in the Lord's Test when he drove feverishly at a wide ball from Mohammad Amir and was caught at the wicket.

England suspended Azeem Rafiq, the England Under-19 captain, for a month and fined him £500 after an expletive-laden tirade on Twitter. Rafiq had been dropped during an U19 Test series against Sri Lanka as punishment for staying out into the early hours and called the man who made the decision — John Abrahams, the ECB's elite player development manager — a "useless wanker". Pietersen's offence might not reach the same heights, but the ECB will be obliged to consider disciplinary action and may press for an outright ban on Twitter.

Pakistan trio to be axed, page 2

The biggest beneficiary in England's selection is Surrey's wicketkeeper Steven Davies, named in both squads. Davies will keep in preference to Craig Kieswetter in Twenty20 and is also expected to open in the absence of the injured Michael Lumb. He replaces Kieswetter in the ODI series. Kieswetter will regard Somerset's 50-over match against Pakistan at Taunton as a chance to prove the selectors wrong.

England NatWest Int T20 squad

Paul Collingwood (Durham; capt), James Anderson (Lancashire), Ravi Bopara (Essex), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Steven Davies (Surrey), Craig Kieswetter (Somerset), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), Luke Wright (Sussex), Michael Yardy (Sussex).

England NatWest Series squad

Andrew Strauss (Middlesex; capt), James Anderson (Lancashire), Ravi Bopara (Essex), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Steven Davies (Surrey), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Ajmal Shahzad (Yorkshire), Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire), Luke Wright (Sussex), Michael Yardy (Sussex).

Fans demand ticket refunds in anger at Pakistan allegations

Members of the Pakistan cricket team arrive back at the team's
hotel in Taunton, Somerset, following a training session

Hard evidence of public disgust at the scandal engulfing the Pakistan cricket team emerged with widespread reports of fans trying to cancel tickets already purchased for the one-day international series against England.

Reaction has been particularly marked in Yorkshire where, as the seriousness of the allegations has become clearer, large numbers of ticket holders have demanded a refund. According to club officials the callers said they were furious about the betting allegations uncovered by the News of the World which has now turned into a drama involving at least four investigations, three of them criminal.

However, it seemed last night that it would not be quite so easy for cricket fans to vote with their feet: refunds were being refused on the grounds that the tickets had been sold in good faith and the matches were going ahead.

The backlash started in Yorkshire, which is hosting the one-day international at Headingley on Sunday week. Other grounds staging games in the five-match series have also been affected by the scandal, and could also undermine ticket sales for the two Twenty20 internationals in Cardiff.

Neither of those games at the 16,000-capacity Swalec Stadium are anywhere near to a sellout, with only 6,000 tickets sold for the second match next Tuesday. As of this afternoon it seemed highly unlikely that there would be a last surge of interest in the fixture.

But it is in Yorkshire where the complaints have been loudest and most numerous. Headingley will stage the second match in the 50-over series and it was already guaranteed to be a sellout of about 17,000 before the News of the World sting. The county's chief executive, Stewart Regan, admitted that many will be attending reluctantly, having tried unsuccessfully to cancel their bookings in protest at Pakistan's conduct.

"The phones in the club office haven't stopped ringing from people wanting to vent their fury and ask whether they can get refunds on the one-day international," Regan told the Yorkshire Post. "I've personally fielded several calls and we've had numerous enquiries about cancelling tickets.

"From the club's point of view, we can't give refunds simply because people have got a personal opinion about what's gone on, no matter how much we might agree with them. The club has sold tickets in good faith and, just as we understand the spectators' position, they appear to understand ours."

Officials at Surrey and Glamorgan confirmed that they had also taken smaller numbers of calls from ticket holders who were either angry or confused following last weekend's revelations.

The Oval will stage the third match in the 50-over series next Friday and is close to a 23,500 sellout, but tickets are still available for the last two games at Lord's and the Rose Bowl.

Durham are also hopeful of a sellout of about 15,000 for the first game in the series next Friday. "We're pretty pleased with the way sales have gone, and as far as we're concerned as long as the games are going ahead there wouldn't be a refund," said their chief executive, David Harker.

Shahid Afridi the tainted warrior entrusted with reviving Pakistan

Shahid Afridi, outside Pakistan's hotel in Taunton today,
 was banned after biting the ball during a one-day game in Australia.

How do you solve a problem like Shahid Afridi? On the face of it, the arrival of a fresh captain and five other players for the limited-overs matches is a chance for Pakistan to turn a corner on this tour. But Afridi has a checkered past to match some of his team-mates.

Pakistan cricket's wise heads made him one-day captain for the Australia tour last winter, but by the time they left in February Afridi had made the most astonishing attempt at ball-tampering most of us have seen, biting the ball in a one-day international in Perth. He was banned for two Twenty20 internationals. Those with longer memories tut-tutted and recalled his pitch-scuffing antics at Faisalabad's Iqbal Stadium in 2005, when, after bashing 92 from 85 balls, he tried to improve his team's chances of victory against England by replicating Michael Jackson's moonwalk on a spinner's length.

For all his faults, Afridi has never been shy of holding up his hand when he has stuffed up. Even those left slack-jawed by the irresponsibility of his batting during the Lord's Test defeat against Australia in July warmed to him after the game, when he admitted he was not cut out for the demands of the five-day game.

In retrospect, though, maybe there was more at work than ill-fitting whites. Pakistan's Express Tribune reported on Monday that Afridi had had doubts about the Majeed brothers' activities even before the News of the World's revelations. "Afridi always doubted Mazhar and his brother Azhar Majeed, and that's why he strictly prohibited his entry in the team hotel and asked all the fellow players to stay away from them," a team official told the paper, adding that it was only once Afridi returned home that contact was reestablished.

In a video leaked after the tour of Australia, in which Pakistan lost every single game in all three formats, Afridi was also suspicious of some in the squad. "As far as the fielding is concerned, we do very well in the practice sessions but we have a few players who perform well with the bat and then do not concentrate while fielding," he said. When the inquiry committee then asked if he thought any player deliberately tried to lose a match, he replied: "I have heard from others that such things exist but I do not know of any such player myself."

He has scored as many centuries (five) as Andrew Flintoff in 52 fewer Tests and taken 109 more one-day wickets than England's talismanic all-rounder, yet Afridi's volatile temperament has meant that he could never be considered one of the game's elite performers. Like the big gamblers who either clean up or go bust, there is no middle path with Afridi.

That was best illustrated in the World Twenty20 tournaments of 2007 and 2009. In the first, he was player of the competition, starring with bat and ball, but the sight of Irfan Pathan (who received, at the receiving end of many an Afridi sledge on the tour of Pakistan in 2006) at the top of the bowling mark appeared to unhinge him in the final against India. The first-ball dismissal was crucial in a nail-bitingly close game. Two years later, in England, his form with the bat was so dismal there was talk of his being dumped from the side. But Younis Khan – who, like Afridi, is a Pathan, a people from northern Pakistan – kept faith and was rewarded with two spellbinding performances in the semi-final and final, as South Africa and Sri Lanka were swept aside.

Not since Imran Khan and the two Ws, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, has a Pakistan cricketer been so adored. During the World Twenty20 last summer, chants of "Afridi, Afridi" were as common as "Pakistan zindabad", and he has admitted to being affected by the adulation. "While in the dressing room, I try to remain calm and think about building my innings," he said in a TV interview a few years ago. "But when I go out there, it's like hitting a wall of sound and I forget whatever we had discussed minutes earlier. I just try and smash every ball."

The 30-year-old, initially a fast bowler who so idolised Imran he switched to spin because "people told me I was chucking the ball", was born in the Khyber Agency. "My tribe is from the northern areas," he told Spin Cricket last year. "There's no law there, no governmental law, it's our own rules. It's very close to Afghanistan. In the tribe, in the Khyber Agency, no one's interested in cricket. They belong to the army or do business. In my village 12, 13-year-old guys are always walking about with guns." Had Afridi not become the first member of his tribe to play first-class cricket he, too, would have joined the army.

Nearly two decades ago, another Pathan, Imran, led Pakistan cricket to its finest hour. Last year, Younis led them to a second world title. Now, Afridi has the most arduous task of all, to lead a team from darkness without knowing where the light is.

Pakistan refuse to suspend 'spot-fixing' players without proof

Pakistan are refusing to stand down Mohammad Amir, left,
captain Salman Butt, centre, and Mohammad Asif
until they have evidence of wrongdoing.

The Pakistan players at the centre of the spot-fixing scandal could be allowed to appear in the Twenty20 internationals against England after Ijaz Butt, the country's cricket board chairman, insisted none of them would be suspended until police found some hard evidence of corruption.

Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, the three players implicated in the News of the World sting into an alleged betting syndicate during the last Test, arrived with the squad in Taunton yesterday ahead of Sunday's match.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has been under mounting pressure to leave out the trio with both English and Pakistani law enforcement agencies now investigating the affair.

Talks yesterday between the International Cricket Council, the England and Wales Cricket Board and the PCB yielded the agreement that any player found guilty should be thrown out of the sport for life, with the ECB privately adament that the trio should at the very least be omitted from the series.

However, Butt told CricInfo that this would not be the case unless investigators revealed some substantial proof of corruption. "There is a case going on over here with Scotland Yard," Ijaz said. "This is only an allegation. There is still no charge or proof on that account. So at this stage there will be no action taken."

The News of the World allegations against the tourists are wide-reaching – starting with suggestions of "spot-fixing" no-balls in the fourth Test against England at Lord's and going as far as citing fixed matches in the past and looking ahead to the one-day series.

Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, insisted the sport's governing body would come down hard on anyone found guilty of cheating and said he hoped a deal could be brokered between the ECB and PCB before the weekend.

"We are working hard. We realise the [Twenty20] game starts on Sunday. We're busy with the Metropolitan Police and hopefully before the weekend arrives we can get to some sort of a conclusion. But it's an individual's right that you're innocent until proven guilty.

"We were ensuring among all of us that we want to see the same outcome and same objectives. And that is for anyone found guilty of corruption to be taken out of the sport. We have got that commitment from all the parties."

He conceded: "I think the reputation of the game has been tarnished and it's something we must make right. There's no question people's confidence would have been swayed. But we must ensure the vast majority of players who play the game well are provided with that opportunity and the spectators would respect those players."

Mazhar Majeed, a known associate of the Pakistan team, was arrested and then bailed without charge yesterday as part of a Scotland Yard investigation, while Butt, Asif and Amir had their mobile phones confiscated.

A three-man team from Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency – the country's highest law enforcement agency – has also been sent to England. Interior minister Rehman Malik said the investigators would help Scotland Yard but also investigate the allegations independently.

Pakistan's prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who launched the FIA investigation, said: "The latest fixing allegations have bowed our heads in shame. I have ordered a thorough inquiry into these allegations so that action could be taken against those who are proven guilty."

Somerset are fully expecting Thursday's friendly fixture to take place, and county chief executive Richard Gould promised the visiting side a "warm welcome", although condemnation over the scandal continued to pour in.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan told BBC Radio Five Live: "If they are proven guilty – any player – my belief is they should be banned for life."

Suspend Pakistan from cricket: English Media

The 'spot-fixing' scandal involving Pakistani cricketers threatens the very existence of the sport, according to the British media which on Monday called for Pakistan's suspension from international cricket and life bans on the guilty players.

Britain's newspapers said cricket's reputation has been mired by this incident and Pakistan should be suspended from cricket by the ICC to restore the image of the game.

"There can be zero tolerance for cheats, even if their dishonesty is genuinely limited to bowling a no-ball to order," The Sun wrote in its editorial.

"Pakistan must be suspended from cricket, which sadly means scrapping the forthcoming one-day series. The shadow of corruption has hung over Pakistani cricket for 15 years. This scandal must be the last," it said.

The Daily Mail termed the scandal as the worst ever scam to hit cricket and called the International Cricket Council to impose a life ban on the players if found guilty.

"Such a purge would be tremendously painful in the short term but it is the only way integrity and belief can be restored," it said.

The Daily Mirror said even though it is disappointing for the cricket lovers to see the sport plagued by scams, there is also a need to educate the young cricketers to help them resist such temptations.

"Money in one form or another sometimes seems to be taking over every aspect of sport.

"More must be done to help players and athletes, who are often very young, resist temptation and stand up to blackmail or intimidation.

"We also need to recapture the spirit of fair play that seems to have been driven out by soaring profits," it wrote.

The Guardian felt cheating in cricket thrives in many forms and it is high time the ICC sets its house in order.

"Cricket cheating thrives in many forms: charges of match-fixing and betting coups coexist with a culture of ball-tampering, sledging, time-wasting and refusal to accept umpires' decisions," it said.

"Cricket must put its house in order fast. Nothing undermines the credibility of any sport more than the suspicion that what you are watching is in fact a fix."

'The Times' said the allegations were a bitter blow to Pakistanis and urged the cricketing world not to isolate "a troubled nation".

"These are dark days for cricket, for professional sport, and for Pakistan," it said.

"In a time when Pakistan is balanced on an existential knife-edge, cricket represents liberalism rather than extremism; international engagement rather than isolation; the celebration of graceful civilisation rather than the cold nihilism of tribal and religious strife.

"Sport may only be sport, but in Pakistan cricket provides a vital bridge of engagement and mutual respect with the wider world.

"The worst thing that could happen now would be for the rest of the world to give up on Pakistan, in cricket, or in anything else."

The Independent also felt the mis-governance of Pakistan cricket, which doesn't have any inspirational figure, is also responsible for the dwindling status of cricket in the volatile nation.

"This is more than the age-old tale of youth corrupted and disorientated by bright lights and luxury," it said.

"Misgoverned for decades, Pakistan has a political class that contains few people whom anyone seriously looks up to for moral inspiration -- hence, in part, the almost fanatical devotion to a sport that supposedly incarnates the ideal of fair play.

"The people of Pakistan deserve better than to have it rubbed in their faces that this is not the case."

The Daily Telegraph said though the incident seems to have tarnished the image of Pakistan but the allegations has in fact affected the integrity of the whole sport.

"Many will see it as a mirror image of the political corruption that is endemic to that country," it said, calling for anyone involved to be punished.

"Only then can a start be made to remove the stain on cricket's reputation," the paper said.