COOK CALLS FOR FIXERS TO GET LIFE BANS
ALASTAIR COOK has called for cricket cheats to be banned for life, the day after it emerged that Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Amir had been granted a visa for the UK. Amir is set for a return to Test cricket at Lord’s on July 14 after being hit with a prison sentence and a five-year ban for his part in the spot-fixing scandal in 2010. And while Cook insisted the Pakistani had served his punishment and should be allowed to resume his highly promising career, he also called on the ICC to get tough on corruption. ‘Over the last few years, it has been more in the public eye,’ he said. ‘One way to deter it is to have as harsh a punishment as possible. The ICC should come out and say, if you are caught match-fixing you are banned for life. That is what we should do to protect the game. ‘People want to be watching a genuine contest. There shouldn’t be sideshows and side bets to alter the game of cricket. ‘There are 24 people, including the umpires, who are going out there, working to the best of their ability. You don’t want to be watching it thinking: “That didn’t feel right”.’ It was at Lord’s six years ago that Amir — then aged 18 — bowled no-balls to order along with Mohammad Asif, and was caught in a newspaper sting that also implicated the Pakistan captain Salman Butt. Only Amir has been selected for the four-Test tour to this country. ‘It’s kind of ironic that his first Test match will be here back at Lord’s,’ said Cook, on the eve of England’s third Test with Sri Lanka. ‘He’s served his time. He’s been punished for what he did, and rightly so, because we’ve got to protect the integrity of the game. ‘I have no problems in playing against him at all. My only thing is that if you get caught match-fixing, you should be banned for life.’
JAMES TAYLOR has had a defibrillator fitted. The former England batsman, 26, had to stop playing after being diagnosed in April with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. Meanwhile, England women’s Sarah Taylor has taken a break from cricket after revealing that anxiety attacks were causing her to vomit before she went out to bat.