Strauss says its 'now or never' for ICC to rid cricket of 'match-fixing'

London, Sep 20 : England captain Andrew Strauss has called on the International Cricket Council (ICC) to “stand up and lead the game” following fresh ‘spot-fixing’ allegations.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ijaz Butt has claimed that England players received “enormous amounts of money” to lose the third ODI against Pakistan at The Oval.

However, evidence provided by a British tabloid suggested that bookies knew Pakistan scoring patterns in the match in advance.

“If this is not dealt with strictly now, it never will be. This has brought it very firmly to everyone’s attention that this is an issue,” The Guardian quoted Strauss, as saying.

“We have still got to find out whether there is guilt or not, but the ICC have got a responsibility to the game of cricket to make sure that when there are 22 players turning out to play a game of cricket, everyone is striving equally hard to win.”

“We need to get into a situation where we are 100 percent sure every team that is playing international cricket is clean,” he added.

Meanwhile, livid over the controversy, former England captain Alec Stewart has said that the tour should be called-off.

“If the allegations against Pakistan can be proved, I do not see how the tour can continue,” Stewart said.

Pakistan team currently trails the five-match series 2-1. The fourth ODI will be played at Lord’s on Monday, while fifth match will be played at Southampton on Wednesday.