ICC not against Azhar's felicitation

Jaipur, Oct 16 (UNI) International Cricket Council (ICC) Chief Executive Malcom Speed implied indirectly that the game's governing body would not object if banned former captain Mohammed Azharuddin is felicitated by the BCCI at a function to be held in Mumbai on November 4.

ICC's executive board meeting is also scheduled for the same day in that city. Speed had earlier expressed his reservations over BCCI's decision to honour a disgraced player.

''I want to make one thing clear. We are not against Azharuddin being felicitated,'' said Mr Speed when asked why the ICC was differentiating between players from different countries involved in the match-fixing scandal.

Pointing out that the degree of their involvement was varying, Mr Speed said, ''In Herchille Gibbs' case, the South African board found that though he had been offered money to fix matches, Gibbs had not fixed them. In Pakistan's case, Ata-ur-Rehman was found guilty. In the former Indian captain's case, the BCCI had found him guilty and slapped a life ban.'' Mr Speed then sarcastically added that he had no problems if the Indian board wanted to honour its ''former Test captains.'' ''Several other players were found guilty by the BCCI and were handed different punishments. So where does ICC come into the picture?'' he asked.

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