Butt hints he will not step down if players found guilty

Lahore:

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt on Thursday made it clear that he had no intentions of stepping down even if the players under investigation for spot-fixing in England were found guilty in the investigations.

Butt was asked pointedly by a reporter at a press conference here whether he would resign if the players were found guilty.

"This question has no relevance to the issue being discussed here," Butt said.

Then he remarked after a thought: "Where does the issue of my resigning arise, you are pre-empting things about players being found guilty," he said.

The PCB Chairman interestingly appeared to be in a more relaxed mood after his stormy return to Pakistan last evening when hundreds of people at the airport heckled and jeered him and raised slogans against him and the players.

Joking and exchanging banters with the reporters from time to time, it appeared as if the PCB Chairman has got a vote of confidence from the Presidency to carry on despite the ongoing spot-fixing and betting scandal involving the Pakistan players in England.

In Pakistan cricket, the President directly appoints the board Chairman and Butt was brought in by President Asif Ali Zardari who has retained faith in him despite scathing criticism of the way Butt has run Pakistan cricket affairs.

Butt was also quick to defend his old friend and the manager of the Pakistan team in England, Yawar Saeed.

To a question on Yawar, Butt said he didn't feel the manager had been lax in his duty and could not be blamed for something that involved the players.

Butt said the board was now taking number of steps to ensure similar incidents do not happen again. One of the immediately steps was that in future all players would have to appoint agents and business managers with the approval of the board.

"The agents and business managers will be scrutinised thoroughly by the Pakistan embassies in the country they belong too and if they are from Pakistan clearance and their background record would be sought from local authorities," he said.