ICC put England in a fix over Mushtaq Ahmed's role within the team

Mushtaq Ahmed’s role with England is again under scrutiny after it emerged that the International Cricket Council advised them not to appoint him because he was tainted by corruption.
The spot-fixing crisis that has rocked the game this week has not only embroiled Pakistan but also highlighted the fact that several leading ex-players who have been implicated in corruption scandals, like Mushtaq and current Pakistan coach Waqar Younis, are still very much involved in the game.
Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief execut ive, and Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the head of their anticorruption unit, talked on Friday of the ‘biggest scandal cricket has faced since Hansie Cronje’ after suspending Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif for their alleged manipulation of the Lord’s Test.

Lorgat then reflected on how he warned the ECB about employing Mushtaq as spin bowling coach at the start of last year because of the condemnation of him by Justice Qayyum in his report into matchfixing involving Pakistan 10 years ago.‘We highlight anybody we’ve got on a list who has been labelled in one way or another, so I wrote to the ECB and issued them with a cautionary suggestion that they had to do due

diligence on Mushtaq, but they were satisfied with the appointment,’ said Lorgat.

‘We at the ICC do not employ people who have been tainted in the past but the ECB are entitled to make their own decisions.’
Qayyum was unequivocal in his criticism of the former Pakistan and Sussex leg-spinner.
‘There are sufficient grounds to cast strong doubt on Mushtaq Ahmed,’ the Pakistani judge summarised in his report in 2000. ‘He has brought the name of the Pakistan team into disrepute with, inter alia, associating with gamblers

'This commission recommends that Mushtaq Ahmed not be given any office of responsibility in the team or on the board.’

Despite that Mushtaq, 40, worked as assistant coach to Bob Woolmer with the Pakistan team and was then
appointed to England’s staff by Peter Moores. Now ‘Mushy’ has become a very popular member of the England set-up.
‘I hope this doesn’t stay with me for the rest of my career,’ said Mushtaq when he first joined England. ‘There wasn’t any evidence against me. If there had been I wouldn’t have worked for Pakistan.’
Mushtaq is not working with the England team at Cardiff ahead of Sunday’s first Twenty20 international against his native country but will be involved in the build-up to the Ashes.
                          
Andy Flower, the England team director, said he is still happy to have him as part of his team.
‘I am very comfortable with Mushtaq,’ said Flower. ‘He’s been brilliant for us as a team. He’s been a good coach, a good example to our players and support staff — and I’m looking forward to him working with us again when he joins us in Australia. He’s a lovely man.’
Meanwhile, Butt, Asif and Aamer, who is set to be dropped from the list of contenders for the ICC’s emerging player of the year award, were on Friday interviewed by police in Kilburn, north London before later being released without charge.

Sir Ronnie, the former chief constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, said they had been suspended because they had ‘a really arguable case to answer’.

‘At the worst end of the scale, if guilt is found, then the punishment can range right up to a life ban from the game,’ said Sir Ronnie before warning it would take some time before any investigation is concluded.
He added that he was considering adding to the ranks of the anticorruption unit in a bid to stamp out any other potential corruption in the game. Sir Ronnie did, however, claim that the problem of ‘spot-fixing’ is not widespread within the sport.
‘I do not see this as the tip of the iceberg,’ he said.
Pakistan have called up batsman Asad Shafiq and 7ft 1in fast bowler Mohammad Irfan, the tallest man ever to play professional cricket, to bolster their one-day squad after the suspensions.