BREAKING NEWS:::: SHOIAB and ASIF ban Lifted!!!!!!

[Matt79]

Just when I didn't think I could hate the Pakistan side any more...


They really are a team of cheats now, it is beyond any doubt, regardless of whatever sloblock was produced to get them off - virtually any other country would have just accepted it or would have conducted the testing properly in the first place. PCB should simply not select either cricketer for the initially weak ban length if it wants to regain any dignity for Pakistan's cricket team.

Bit of an overreaction surely - you can't lump the whole team in together and condemn them on the actions of a couple of individuals - the Mohammad Yousufs and others haven't done anything wrong and add heaps to world cricket I'd have thought.

 

[Scmods]

1. Where exactly is the evidence that there are different rules or more lenient rules for the subcontinent? If anything, historically it's been the other way around.
2. There's effectively no difference between taking steroids and diuretics - diuretics act as a masking agent for 'actual' steroids. Others have made the point how Warne's recovery period was unusually quick, so it's not exactly that far fetched to say he may have taken 'actual steroids and used a diuretic to mask it.
3. How is the ICC supposed to step in? They didn't conduct the initial tests, they had no part in the punishments given.

At any rate, I don't think it's quite fair to let Asif and Shoaib off so easily. However, there was enough doubt in the testing procedures (given they weren't done 'properly') and technically, it's correct to let them off. I'd like to have seen some sort of suspension or ban at least, but I suppose there's little chance of that happening now.

1. Warne claimed he didn't know what he took. He was banned for 2 years. Akhtar and Asif claim the same thing, they're let off. The Sub-Continent apply for the World Cup, as do Australia/NZ. We get our paperwork in on time, sub-continent doesn't. SC gets the Cup, ICCs logic is that Cup hasn't been held there since 1996. This overlooking the fact we haven't had it since 1992. Murali is found over the arm bending limit, the rules are changed. Johan Botha is found over the limit, he's banned.
2. Exactly, there is a significant CHANCE Warney took a steroid. Not 100% confirmed, but there's a chance. He's banned for a year. It is KNOWN Akhtar and Asif took a steroid, and they're let off. Flawless logic that...
3. Do they not run the game? I know they in effect do nothing but officially is it not their game? I'm sure they could do something.

 

[R_D]

Bit of an overreaction surely - you can't lump the whole team in together and condemn them on the actions of a couple of individuals - the Mohammad Yousufs and others haven't done anything wrong and add heaps to world cricket I'd have thought.

Can't really blame Scally really.. Pakistan cricket teams have given Eng cricket fans years of tears by beating them at home regularely.... so you can see why Scaly was born with a hatred of pakistani team.

 

[Nate]

Don`t know why everyone is so surprised with the bans. The PCB were never going to ban their most promising new-ball pair since Wasim and Waqar. They bring too much to Pakistani Cricket in many forms.

Post reported.

 

[nightprowler10]

Post reported.

Reporting your own post?

 

[Nate]

Maybe I don`t get the whole reporting a post thing...

 

[mohammad16]

SEE THIS IS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT, 90% of the peopel here have not forgiven them and still hold them as cheats 100% without you poeple even knowing exactly what has happened, firstly thats ignorance and secondly thats further punishment for shoaib and asif anyway, most people would still hold them as cheats and that is enough punishment anyways, plus they havent been prooven guilty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Nate]

Omggggg

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Serious overreactions on both sides here. Obviously they've got off on a technicality, which hardly exonerates them from taking drugs in the first place, and ignorance of the rules certainly doesn't either. Shane Warne claimed ignorance as well, but still got banned for a year.

Can't really complain about the decision though. If the test wasn't conducted properly it's not fair to ban the players, simple as that.

 

[mohammad16]

Serious overreactions on both sides here. Obviously they've got off on a technicality, which hardly exonerates them from taking drugs in the first place, and ignorance of the rules certainly doesn't either. Shane Warne claimed ignorance as well, but still got banned for a year.

Can't really complain about the decision though. If the test wasn't conducted properly it's not fair to ban the players, simple as that.

SHANE WARNE claimed ignorance, but he didnt proove it

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

SHANE WARNE claimed ignorance, but he didnt proove it

How can you possibly prove ignorance? What an absurd suggestion. The point is that ignorance of the rules isn't an excuse for breaking them. I don't think Shane Warne was ignorant of the rules and I don't think Shoaib was either. Whether they intentionally took the drugs in question or not is beside the point. You still cop the punishment.

 

[Matt79]

Technically, you can't prove ignorance. You might be able to prove that one individual or organisation never informed another individual or organisation of a fact, but you can't prove that that person was therefore unaware of that fact, especially when that fact is available from several different sources.

And again, ignorance shouldn't be any defence - it might affect sentencing but not the question of guilt or innocence.

 

[nightprowler10]

Serious overreactions on both sides here. Obviously they've got off on a technicality, which hardly exonerates them from taking drugs in the first place, and ignorance of the rules certainly doesn't either. Shane Warne claimed ignorance as well, but still got banned for a year.

Can't really complain about the decision though. If the test wasn't conducted properly it's not fair to ban the players, simple as that.

Finally, some sense in this thread. Its like the whole OJ thing.

 

[GIMH]

Can't really blame Scally really.. Pakistan cricket teams have given Eng cricket fans years of tears by beating them at home regularely.... so you can see why Scaly was born with a hatred of pakistani team.

Oh yes, they really handed us our asses this summer just gone.

 

[Slow Love™]

Serious overreactions on both sides here. Obviously they've got off on a technicality, which hardly exonerates them from taking drugs in the first place, and ignorance of the rules certainly doesn't either. Shane Warne claimed ignorance as well, but still got banned for a year.

Can't really complain about the decision though. If the test wasn't conducted properly it's not fair to ban the players, simple as that.

I'm not so sure.

I have just been reading the actual text of the report itself, and I am not so convinced that this appeal has been successful on the grounds that the tests were not properly administered.

It's quite a long document, and typically over-exhaustive, and it spends a lot of time debating over how the "exceptional circumstances" defence is parsed by either the ICC, WADA or the PCB, but it seems to me that the tribunal found that it was a reasonable defence for Shoaib and Asif to claim that they weren't aware that the supplements they were ingesting were on the banned substances list.

To establish this, it appears that the tribunal has accepted that the PCB failed in it's duty to properly educate the players as to their responsibilities when it came to banned substances. So effectively, it appears to me, unless I am mistaken, that ignorance was in fact accepted as a valid defence, and it may even be the central basis on which the appeal was upheld.

 

[aussie]

Superb that they are back, now Pakistan can be a force at the world cup again..

 

[mohammad16]

Superb that they are back, now Pakistan can be a force at the world cup again..

Word.....

 

[GIMH]

Superb that they are back, now Pakistan can be a force at the world cup again..

While we're at it, let's bring back Gaitlin on the track so he can be a force. And Ben Johnson. In fact, to hell with it, legalise drugs in sport, then we're on a level playing field.

 

[R_D]

Oh yes, they really handed us our asses this summer just gone.

My bad i should've said while Scaly was growing up.

Lighten up it was meant to be bit of tounge in cheek

 

[Slow Love™]

I'm not so sure.

I have just been reading the actual text of the report itself, and I am not so convinced that this appeal has been successful on the grounds that the tests were not properly administered.

Further on this - it seems that the problems with the testing procedure may only be coming from the third, dissenting member of the tribunal (the one that voted against the acquittal in a 2-1 verdict), who added an 11 page note in which he apparently insisted the tests be re-administered and this whole process restarted.

So I am now reasonably sure (I could still be mistaken, and am happy to be corrected on this) that the testing procedure may actually have had nothing to do with the acquittal, and was solely about the tribunal's acceptance of Shoaib and Asif's declarations of ignorance.