ICC Chief Executive, Mr David Richardson, today made the following statement after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) released its written decisions relating to Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt.
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 England started off their quest for the semis in style with a comfortable victory over Pakistan in the opening match of the second stage of the ICC World T20 competition, the Super 8s. The English bowlers picked up wickets at regular intervals to restrict Pakistan to 147 in their 20 overs and then the batsmen knocked off the runs with ease as Kevin Pietersen helped himself to a well made 73 off just 52 deliveries after the openers got the innings off to a flyer. Some sloppy catching by Pakistan did not help their cause, with Saeed Ajmal the main culprit grassing three chances early on in the England innings.
Paul Collingwood won the toss and put Pakistan in on a wicket that offered some bounce for the quicker bowlers. The English pace trio of Sidebottom, Bresnan & Broad tried to exploit the same as the Pakistani openers Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal were at the receiving end of some short-pitched stuff. But the openers seemed upto the challenge as Akmal pulled the first ball of the innings for a six and they kept on cutting and pulling the ball with glee. The scoreboard moved steadily at just around 7 runs an over till Broad got Akmal (15) to top edge one in the fifth over and Kieswetter completed an easy catch. |