Shun corruption not Pakistan: Ponting

Wed 8 Sep

Australian captain Ricky Ponting says cricket cannot afford to lose Pakistan from the international game, riven though it is by corruption allegations.

As Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer prepare to respond to ICC corruption charges arising from a newspaper sting operation that caught the latter pair seemingly bowling no balls to order during the Lord's Test against England, Ponting argued against the collective punishment of Pakistani cricket.

"I think that's going a bit too far, let's just start with the people we know about at the moment and make sure they're dealt with in the appropriate manner," Ponting told Fox Sports.

"I think to ban a whole team would probably be a bit unfair.

"The world game doesn't really need that, (and) can't really afford that to happen.

"I know the world game can't afford these sorts of scandals happening in the game either."

While the rest of the world looked with ever greater levels of suspicion at Australia's victory over Pakistan in the Sydney Test in January, Cricket Australia refused to diverge from the view that the Test was won "fair and square".

But there has been a recent softening of this view, bowing to the idea that the smoke surrounding the various members of the Pakistan team had to lead to fire at some point of the compass, possibly including the SCG Test.

Ponting said he had also considered the possibility of extortion, harking back to past examples of players who, once they had entered into a relationship with a shady go-between, were unable to get out of it. - aap

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