LONDON - England's cricketers went ahead with the fixing-tainted series against Pakistan on Monday despite "strong misgivings" and said they would consider legal action against the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman who alleged English players deliberately lost the third one-day international.
Just before the start of the fourth one-day match at Lord's, England captain Andrew Strauss demanded that the Pakistan team and management distance themselves from allegations by Ijaz Butt of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
"We would like to express our surprise, dismay and outrage at the comments made by Mr. Butt yesterday," Strauss said.
"We are deeply concerned and disappointed that our integrity as cricketers has been brought into question. We refute these allegations completely and will be working closely with the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) to explore all legal options open to us."
Butt accused the England players of throwing Friday's match at The Oval, which Pakistan won by 23 runs for its first victory since the ICC suspended three team members for alleged spot-fixing in the fourth Test against England in August.
Butt made his allegation after the International Cricket Council opened another investigation into alleged Pakistani fixing on the tour, following claims that the scoring pattern in Pakistan's innings on Friday was prearranged.
The ICC received information from a British tabloid ahead of the match that cricket's governing body said "appeared to be correct."
With relations between the Pakistan and England teams seemingly deteriorating and the tour mired in controversy, Strauss gathered his players on Monday to discuss whether the final two ODIs this week should be abandoned. England leads the series 2-1.
"Under the circumstances, we have strong misgivings about continuing to play the last two games of the current series and urge the Pakistani team and management to distance themselves from Mr. Butt's allegations," Strauss said.
"We do, however, recognize 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."
The ECB added that "it would set a dangerous precedent to call off a tour based on the misguided and inaccurate remarks made by one individual."
Supporting its players' decision, the ECB pledged to take "all legal and disciplinary action" following Butt's comments. The players' union said Butt's comments in several media interviews shouldn't mask the real problems blighting the game.
"We will continue to co-operate closely with the ECB, with the aim of ensuring that the work to root out corruption is not derailed by mischievous attempts to detract attention from the real issues," said Angus Porter, chief executive of the Professional Cricketers' Association.
Earlier this month, Pakistan players Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were suspended under the ICC's anti-corruption code following the fixing allegations in the Lord's Test.
Pakistan lost that match by an innings and 225 runs, its worst Test defeat, after the News of the World accused Butt, Amir and Asif of being paid by businessman Mazhar Majeed to deliberately bowl no-balls at prearranged moments.
London police passed their initial evidence to prosecutors on Friday to consider charges.
