A PCB statement read: “The PCB and the Pakistan players completely reject the allegations made by the Sun newspaper and the ICC yesterday about the Pakistan team’s conduct in the 3rd Nat West ODI at The Brit Insurance Oval.

“The allegation’s were wholly irresponsible and completely without foundation.”

“The PCB expresses its gratitude for the outstanding conduct of the Pakistan team since after the first spot fixing story broke and will take all legal and disciplinary action which may result from these allegations.”

“It remains in the best interests of world cricket, the players and in particular of cricket supporters that the tour should continue, and it would set a dangerous precedent to call off a tour based on the misguided and inaccurate allegations of an English tabloid.”

Pakistan’s recently appointed new Chief Executive said: “We are looking for an apology. If it does not come we’ll look at other options. You can’t impugn someone’s integrity without having proper evidence.”

“To date I can say that we have received zero evidence of anything having influenced any Pakistan player since the three players were sent home. Clearly we will seek advice but there are quite strong laws of defamation.”

Earlier, an ex-Pakistani captain said: “I’d be making a few phone calls to legal sources to try to take this a little bit further. I can’t think of anything worse than your name mentioned in terms of fixing a game of cricket.”

Pakistan’s current captain Shahid Afridi said: “We would like to express our surprise, dismay and outrage at the comments made by the ICC and the Sun newspaper. We are deeply concerned and disappointed that our integrity as cricketers has been brought into question again”

“We refute these allegations completely and will be working closely with the PCB to explore all legal options open to us.”

“Under the circumstances, we have strong misgivings about continuing to play the last two games of the current series and urge the English team and management to distance themselves from the Newspaper’s allegations.”

“We do, however, recognise our responsibilities to the game of cricket — and in particular to the cricket-loving public in this country — and will therefore endeavour to fulfil these fixtures to the best of our ability.”

Despite the appeals from captain Shahid Afridi, unfortunately it seems that the ECB’s players have failed to distance themselves from the allegations as it was reported that Jonathan Trott, England’s South African star, made fixing remarks to Pakistan’s Pakistani star, Wahab Riaz, which resulted in an ugly altercation in which Trott ended up grabbing Wahab by the throat.

The Newspaper allegations and the ICC’s conduct has also managed to influence the likes of Ian Botham who, despite nothing being proven, has decided to call for Pakistan to be banned from international cricket. Ian Botham has as of yet failed to explain why his stance has changed as he had no such wish after the initial spot fixing allegations during the fourth Test at Lord’s.*

*All quotes are that of either the ECB, Michael Vaughan or England captain Andrew Strauss. The words in bold have been changed simply to demonstrate the holier-than-thou, self-righteousness of the English board, players, pundits and media in feeling hurt when Pakistan had the same accusations flung at them but did not react like the English have.

The difference is England were accused by an idiot in Ijaz Butt, someone who not many people pay attention to, but Pakistan were accused by cricket’s governing body and by an English newspaper; yes, a newspaper from the land of these sanctimonious saints. Shouldn’t Pakistan be the ones upset? Shouldn’t Pakistan be the ones taking legal action? Shouldn’t Pakistan have been the ones calling meetings on whether to continue the tour?

Captains take a bite. Maybe there was something wrong with the Australian food?

Afridi was being touted for captain in the Test and ODI formats and I would not have minded. He made a good case with his recent performances and showed signs of maturity but his actions here have got me wondering if he really has matured. Yes, every team probably does it Shahid, but I doubt they use their teeth and make it so blatantly obvious. He may as well have gone up to umpire Asoka De Silva and asked to use his dentures. And when quizzed on Pakistani television, why on earth did he come out with the excuse that he was smelling the ball? He would have even been better off saying that he was starving because of the poor Australian cuisine.

Afridi has history of course. In a game against England, he walked onto the middle of the pitch and preceded to do a few pirouettes to scuff up the track with his spikes. Highly subtle once again. Yet maybe he should have used his spikes on the ball this time by stepping on it as it obviously legal as it worked for Stuart Broad in the recent match against South Africa where he got away with it.

Stuart Broad, sinking his spikes into the ball & doing "nothing wrong"

And the difference between what Broad and Afridi did? Nothing. So why did he get away with it? Well it’s obvious, Broad is an Englishman. Broad knew what he was doing and as soon as the allegations emerged, the English PR machine went into overdrive with Broad being “astonished” by the allegations, Strauss calling them “malicious” and Cook being angry since they’d done “nothing wrong”. At the time, Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan and Simon Wilde of The Sunday Times had suggested that the outcome would have been far different if the bowler who did it was from Pakistan. It is clear this difference they spoke of is being shown to some extent in how Afridi’s actions were dealt with. If you look at the effect it has on the ball, surely metal spikes are worse than the enamel that teeth are made of? But I guess in the eyes of the ICC, a Pakistani is worse than an Englishman too.

What Afridi did was wrong and embarrassing, but that and what Broad did shows why it continues to pay to be from certain countries. Just ask Sulieman Benn who was suspended after an incident with Mitchell Johnson and the saint that is Brad Haddin. Haddin, who instigated the clash, and Johnson who clearly makes physical contact with Benn first (at 3 minutes 55 secs), were only fined a fraction of their match fees, whereas Benn was banned, after the match referee had finished analysing his findings. That match referee was Broad’s daddy Chris, by the way. If you don’t want to call it racism, then call it whatever you will, but what it is, is obvious.