Former Pakistan coach Waqar Younis led calls Monday urging the cricketing world to rally around the anti-corruption unit in the wake of the spot-fixing scandal which rocked the sport.
Former Test captain Salman Butt, pacemen Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, and their agent Mazhar Majeed received prison sentences ranging from 32 months to six months for their roles in fixing part of the Lord’s Test against England last year.
The scandal, unearthed after a sting operation by the now defunct British tabloid News of the World, sparked criticism for the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
England captain Andrew Strauss and former skipper Ian Botham called ACSU “a toothless tiger”, but former Pakistan coach and captain Waqar said everybody needs to work together to combat corruption.
“I have seen people from the ACSU working and they have a system in place with certain restrictions, but when such an ugly episode happens they (ACSU) are the easy punch bags,” Waqar told AFP. “Instead of criticising them we need to support them, enhance the system through which they are trying their level best but they cannot go beyond that, and do a sting operation,” said Waqar, coach of the team on the fateful tour.
Waqar backs under-fire anti corruption unit
