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Andrew McGlashan
November 25, 2011
Andrew Strauss has said it is time for cricket to "move on" from the spot-fixing scandal but issued another warning that more needs to be done to stamp out corruption in the sport. England's next series brings them head-to-head with Pakistan less than 18 months after cricket was rocked by the News of the World story during the 2010 Lord's Test.
Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir had appeals against their sentences rejected this week but Mohammad Asif is set to challenge his conviction. There have been considerable changes to the Pakistan team since the controversy erupted and Strauss hopes that the focus returns to the quality of cricket produced by both teams.
"I think it's a good time for cricket to move on," he said. "We've been on the front pages rather than the back pages and for the good of the game it's important we produce a good, entertaining series of Test cricket. It was all quite emotive when it went on but it was quite a long time ago. We are all aware that the game didn't come out if it well and are aware we've got to do as much as we can to ensure it doesn't happen again.
"We've all seen what happened to the players involved and I think that sends out a very strong deterrent. In a certain degree that matter has been dealt with it's in the best interest of both sets of players to leave that in the past and look to future."
However, Strauss remains fully aware that there is a long road ahead to ensure the sport is clean. "I think it's hard to know exactly to what extent this goes on but there's no doubt the individual boards, the ICC and the players themselves have to be vigilant and we've got to do more to ensure it is stamped out to as great a degree as possible."
Ensuring that there are no residual tensions that spill over on the pitch is all part of England maintaining their discipline. The team came in for criticism during the one-day tour of India for some of their behaviour and Strauss knows it's about finding a balance.
"We've played our best cricket when we've been competitive, but in a controlled environment and I thought we did that very well in Australia when there was a lot of emotion involved," he said. "That's a recipe for good cricket for us regardless of the opposition."
However, as recent events involving the England rugby union team have shown, the issue of discipline within a sports team is about much more than what happens on the pitch. Since Strauss and Andy Flower took over they have formed a strongly-knit unit which includes a players' charter to lay out what is expected of cricketers representing their country.
"We all have to work hard to ensure players understand their responsibilities on and off the pitch," Strauss said. "In the cricket team we have a strong players' charter which is a starting point, but we are aware things can get out of hand if you aren't careful about it. My gut feeling is that the majority of the responsibility is on the players themselves and as a group rather than management."
And Strauss won't need any unwanted distractions as England embark on the challenge of staying at No. 1 in the Test rankings. The 5-0 one-day whitewash against India showed that playing in subcontinental conditions remains a huge challenge and the five Tests England play in the first part of 2012 - three against Pakistan and two against Sri Lanka - will push all aspects of their game.
"Clearly it's a challenge for us and it's a challenge we've always had in that part of the world," he said. "The most important thing is we face it head-on. I think there were some good things to come out of that series despite the 5-0 defeat. Hopefully it's given all of us a bit of impetus and shown us there are areas we need to improve. We can't be arrogant and say everything is rosy, we must strive to improve."
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