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and it just gets deeper for Pakistan

News of the World have printed the latest series of allegations in the Pakistan cricket corruption scandal. Pakistan have had a chequered history in cricket with rumours, allegations and the odd conviction prevalent for a few decades, and before that, it was presure on home umpires to cheat - long before the neutral umpire system came in.

So on top of last week's deliberate no-balls to show the players would perform on cue, now we have Salman Butt caught with a pile of dirty money in his room, a player annoyed at not being selected accusing most of his teammates of being corrupt and then the same player denying he said anything. The football club Mazhar Majeed confessed to using a money-laundering toy is now falling apart. And it all came from a tip-off....

It's time cricket authorities, and not just the ICC, had the balls to stand up to Pakistan and tell them to piss off to the B leagues, playing the likes of Zimbabwe. If the ICC don't kick them out, then countries too soft to refuse should schedule their matches at the lowest-budget venues around. Nobody will pay money to watch them and not should they.

They have ruined the sport of cricket, and there now is too much mud being thrown for it all to be made up. The Pakistan High Commissioner has played the race card, claiming it's part of a global conspiracy against Pakistan. Nope, it's a conspiracy against people who bloody cheat and ruin a gentleman's sport enjoyed around the world. I hate racism and all it stands for, but equally I despise people who feel compelled to play the race card because they are incompetent or cannot admit the truth.

Just a tenth of the accusations being true is enough to expel them from international cricket. It goes far, far too deep to just be down to a couple of bad eggs.

Don't let your arse hit the door on the way out....

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