Claim and counter-claim

I hear that Sir Alex Ferguson has accepted a bribe from a Pakistani bookmaker to allow Man City to beat Man Utd when they next play against each other at Old Trafford; the score will be 0-6. If you believe this, then you'll be among the very few people who accept that England threw the One Day International against Pakistan last week. Mr Ijaz Butt, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, has made this fatuous claim, and more importantly, has said he will name the England players concerned. If there is any truth in his allegation, he must name the players immediately, and provide incontrovertible proof, otherwise he'll become the laughing stock of the cricketing world. If he fails to do so, Mr Butt should resign. If he doesn't, some decent people in his own country will believe his fantastical words, and frankly, the game of cricket could never hope to recover.