Series with Pakistan will go ahead: CSA

Johannesburg: Cricket South Africa today denied reports that its players were reluctant to play against Pakistan in the wake of the match-fixing scandal, saying that the series between the two sides in the UAE next month would go ahead as scheduled.

An unnamed South African player was quoted as saying by the London-based ‘Daily Telegraph’ that some of his senior teammates could make themselves unavailable for the series, comprising three Tests, five ODIs and two Twenty20 Internationals, due to the raging match-fixing row surrounding Pakistani cricketers.

But CSA chief executive Gerald Majola said no player has expressed any such reservation so far and there was no plan to scrap the series.

“This is an official bilateral tour governed by the ICC FTP agreement, signed by all member countries; therefore it is an ICC-sanctioned match.