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Flower defends Mushtaq role
England coach Andy Flower on Friday defended the suitability of Mushtaq Ahmed as the team's spin-bowling trainer despite the former Pakistani player being named in a match-fixing inquiry ten years ago.
His comments came in the light of the "spot-fixing" crisis which saw three members of the current Pakistan cricket team questioned by police on Friday.
Mushtaq was named in a 2000 report by then-Pakistani judge Malik Mohammad Qayyum into match-fixing, which imposed life bans on former captain Salim Malik and bowler Ata-ur-Rehman.
"I am very comfortable with Mushtaq," Flower told reporters in Cardiff, where Pakistan and England are set to play a Twenty20 international on Sunday.
"He's been brilliant for us as a team. He's been a good coach, a good example to our players and support staff -- and I'm looking forward to him working with us again when he joins us in Australia."
Flower added: "I chatted with Mushy on the phone a couple of days ago.
"He's a cricket coach -- that's what he is -- and we're very comfortable working with him. He's a lovely man, and a good man for our system. I'm quite happy with that."
British police Friday quizzed Pakistani bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif and test captain Salman Butt over newspaper claims that deliberate no-balls were bowled in the fourth test between England and Pakistan at Lord's.
In 2000, Qayyum, at the time a Lahore high court judge, led an inquiry into allegations of match-fixing centred on former Pakistan captain Salim Malik.
Australian cricketers Shane Warne, Tim May and Mark Waugh had alleged that Malik offered them money to under-perform during Australia's tour to Pakistan in 1994.
The Qayyum inquiry banned Malik and Ata-ur-Rehman for life and
fined six others, including Mushtaq Ahmed, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Wasim
Akram, Waqar Younis, Saeed Anwar and Akram Raza.
