'Cricket will survive spot-fixing scandal'

England coach Andy Flower is confident that cricket "will survive" the 'spot-fixing' scandal engulfing the visiting Pakistan team.

"No-one wants that sort of news on the front or back page," The News quoted Flower, as saying.

"Obviously, it's not a very healthy position that we seem to be finding ourselves in right now, but the game will survive, there's no doubt about that."

"It's a great game, people love playing it, people love watching it, that's why it will survive," he added.

The England coach further said that both the teams would have to leave the issue behind, and focus on playing the game.

"We've got a Twenty20 game on Sunday that we are working towards," Flower said.

Sundays' Twenty20 match against Pakistan at Sophia Gardens will be England's first outing in the format since winning the Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean in May.