Thaindian News

London, Sept 19 (ANI): In the wake of spot-fixing controversy, England cricket coach Andy Flower has admitted that relations between the England and Pakistan have been adversely affected by the events of the past month.

When asked if spot-fixing allegations had affected relations between the two teams, the coach replied, “Yes, I would say it has. I don’t really want to go into detail, but things like this, will affect the relationship between the sides, in general terms.”

“Looking at it from the game’s point of view, which is what we should all do, it’s very sad for cricket. From a selfish perspective, it’s annoying because it devalues our Test series and it is also devaluing this one-day series, the Daily Mail quoted Flower, as saying.

He conceded that those events had ‘devalued’ England’s 3-1 Test series win as well as the current one-day series, though he wanted his team to go on and clinch the series.

“As for the rest of the series, we want to go to Lord’s and win the game so that we win the series - and we’ll keep it as simple as that,” he said.

Talking about fresh allegations that the third one-dayer at the Oval was also rigged, Flower acknowledged that he did not “even contemplate that anything would be going on.”

The sorry saga started with a tabloid claiming that Pakistani players Amir and Asif had bowled no-balls under orders from a fixer during the final Test at Lord’s. The bowlers and their captain- Salman Butt- were suspended by the ICC and after being interrogated by Scotland Yard detectives, returned home to Pakistan. (ANI)