Given the off field accusations and implications of the One Day International series against England, it is hardly surprising that Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed has asked the Pakistan Cricket Board to relieve him of his duties and offered his resignation.
The Pakistan Cricket Board released a statement saying the chairman has accepted the resignation of Saeed with immediate effect.
It has been a turbulent time for the Pakistan team who were beaten in Test, ODI and Twenty/20 by the England team, but it has been the off field accusations of match fixing and the like that have left a sour taste in the mouths of cricket lovers world wide.
Test skipper Salman Butt and pacemen Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer all came under scrutiny from Scotland Yard following a News of the World undercover investigation that alleged spot-fixing during the fourth npower Test at Lord’s. All three were provisionally suspended by the International Cricket Council and returned early to Pakistan.
The scandal deepened further after the Sun newspaper claimed it had received details regarding scoring patterns of the third NatWest one-day international well before the start of play, with the ICC also launching an investigation into this.
In turn, PCB chief Ijaz Butt drew criticism – and the potential for legal action against him – when he publicly accused the England players of having taken bribes to lose the third ODI.
