England v Pakistan, 4th ODI, Lord's

Pakistan considered police action over nets incident

September 21, 2010

 

	Jonathan Trott squared up to Wahab Riaz in the nets at Lord's.

Shahid Afridi, Pakistan's one-day captain, has said that his team had considered filing a police complaint against Jonathan Trott after his altercation with fast bowler Wahab Riaz in the nets before Monday's fourth ODI at Lord's.

His version of events, however, drew a strong response from Angus Porter, the chief executive of the PCA, who told ESPNcricinfo that the incident had been "six of one, and half a dozen of the other", and that to portray Trott as the sole aggressor was inaccurate.

In a visible sign of the tensions existing between the two teams in the wake of Ijaz Butt's allegations against the England team, Trott and Wahab squared up on the nursery ground before the start of play, with the two players eventually being separated by the England batting coach, Graham Gooch.

Although the details of the incident were sketchy at the time, Afridi later gave his version of events to the Pakistan news channel, Geo TV. "When Riaz was returning after warming up Trott called him a 'match-fixer' and that he [Riaz] was up to harming Test cricket and hit his face with the pad," Afridi was quoted as saying. "It could have been a police case because it is a crime to hit someone. But we showed a big heart and did not press for it."

Afridi also confirmed that Pakistan had considered a making a protest in the wake of the confrontation. "There was talk of not going in for the toss because of the incident," he said. "But better sense prevailed because we wanted to play the match and we want this series to end properly.

"The match referee [Jeff Crowe] called both players and Trott apologised for his remarks and the matter ended there as far as we are concerned."

Porter, however, did not wish Afridi's take on the incident to go unchallenged. "It is not only unfortunate that Shahid Afridi spoke out on a matter that the match referee described as minor, but we wish to place on record that his version of events is not one that we subscribe to," he told ESPNcricinfo. "A line has now been drawn under the incident, but that does not mean we do not wish to set the record straight. Afridi has attempted to come across as magnanimous, but that is not how we understand the issue to have played out."

Riaz is one of four Pakistan players, along with Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, to have been interviewed by police following the allegations of spot-fixing that arose during the Lord's Test last month. The ECB chief executive, David Collier, described the incident as "regrettable" but "fairly minor in nature".