Back to school for Pakistan players, coaches in corruption fight

Friday, 22 April 2011 01:16 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

(Reuters) - The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has launched a program to educate cricketers and officials on how to avoid corruption and be on their best behaviour in the sport.

“We have held lectures for all the regional teams including coaches who are part of the domestic structure and also for the national under-19 and A team players and support staff,” former test captain Wasim Bari, who heads the program, told Reuters.

Participants are given lectures on the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption code and the PCB code of conduct.

“We are also telling them how to behave in a dressing room, how to interact with strangers and outsiders. How to avoid getting lured into corrupt practices. We are preparing them for international cricket.” Banned trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were not allowed to take part in the program. “Since they have appealed against their bans the matter is technically subjudice,” said Bari. “So we can’t involve them in any program at the moment.”

The trio are serving minimum five-year bans from the ICC’s anti-corruption tribunal for their role in a spot-fixing scandal during last year’s tour to England.

The controversy sparked a major debate in Pakistan on whether the PCB was doing enough to educate the players on anti-corruption and code of conduct measures.

The PCB official said the lectures were delivered in the national Urdu language and players and officials were encouraged to take part in question and answer sessions.

“We have also distributed a manual based on the ICC anti-corruption code and our own code of conduct in Urdu in all the regions,” he added.

The PCB also plans to hire foreign experts in future to give lectures.