Stani Army

As the date for the tribunal’s hearing into the spot fixing scandal fast approaches, don’t be surprised if Mohammad Amir receives a life ban from cricket like Salman Butt and Mohammed Asif are likely to receive if found guilty. And quite frankly, Amir will have no one to blame but himself. Since immediately after the spot fixing scandal broke, there has been a lot of goodwill and calls for clemency towards Amir going around. Yet the youngster and his advisers seemed oblivious, and have hardly taken advantage or even shown remorse.

Mohammad Amir should have immediately been safeguarded from the influences of Butt and Asif after the fixing scandal

Immediate thoughts after the scandal were that Amir should try to distance himself from Butt and Asif, in that this would give him a better chance at receiving a more lenient sentence if found guilty. He did not necessarily have to become informant in some kind of plea bargain, but just had to stop being associated with the captain and senior bowler that allegedly coerced him into the dirty world of fixing.

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Well he’s back, but I guess it was only a matter of time. When the ICC sent Darrell Hair on a rehabilitation course then the only possible outcome at the end of this period was to reinstate him unless he did something drastic. In reality, they put themselves in a difficult situation by not getting rid of him when they had their chance. Surely, if I blackmailed my employers I would expect to get my marching orders right?

In an interview with Sky Sports News, ICC General Manager Dave Richardson, sitting in his nice office in Dubai, gave the most bizarre reason for why Pakistan should be more understanding and forgiving about Hair’s reinstatement and why Inzamam was wrong in saying he was “shocked and disgusted” by it.

Richardson said:

“If Pakistan had one of their best batsmen or best bowlers and he had behavioural problems, and the Pakistan board sent him on a rehabilitation course and he came back and said right, now I’m a changed man, surely you’d have to look at him and it’s only fair to look at him. Yes I can understand [Inzamam’s] feelings but I don’t think that’s fair”

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