Pakistan chief denies England ‘fix’ claim

Pakistan cricket chief Ijaz Butt denied accusing England players of match-fixing yesterday after earlier suggesting they may have thrown a one-day international for “enormous” sums of cash.

In an interview with BBC Radio Five Live, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman said he had merely been relaying information from bookmakers relating to England’s one-day defeat to Pakistan at the Oval on Friday.

“I have never said this. If you listen to the full tape of the NDTV interview, the bookies are saying this. I am not saying this,” Butt said.

Asked about mounting calls for the remaining two matches in the series to be cancelled, Butt said he wanted the games to go ahead.

“If they (the England and Wales Cricket Board) want to scrap it they can scrap it, we will go ahead with it,” Butt told the BBC.

Butt triggered uproar late on Sunday in an interview with the NDTV news channel where he linked England’s cricketers to match-fixing.

“There is loud and clear talk in bookie circles that some English players were paid enormous amounts of money to lose the (Oval) match,” Butt said. “No wonder there was total collapse of the English side.”

Butt’s comments came after fresh corruption claims against Pakistan emerged on Saturday, with Britain’s Sun tabloid claiming to have been made aware of details of Pakistan’s innings before Friday’s match had got underway.