Mushtaq under ICC's scanner, gets Flower's backing

The ICC has said it had warned the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) against recruiting former Pakistani leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed, implicated in a match-fixing scandal 10 years ago, as its spin bowling coach.

"We highlight anybody we've got on a list who has been labelled in one way or another, so I wrote to the ECB and
issued them with a cautionary suggestion that they had to do due diligence on Mushtaq. But they were satisfied with the
appointment," ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat was quoted as saying in The Guardian.

"We suggested they had to be vigilant around their own changing rooms. We at the ICC do not employ people who have been tainted in the past but the ECB are entitled to make their own decisions," he added.

Mushtaq, who was implicated in Justice Qayyum's report on match fixing 10 years ago, will miss England's two Twenty20 internationals and five one-dayers but will rejoin them before the Ashes.

"There are sufficient grounds to cast strong doubt on Mushtaq Ahmed. He has brought the name of the Pakistan team
into disrepute with, inter alia, associating with gamblers," Qayyum's report had stated.

"This commission therefore recommends he be censured, kept under close watch and be not given any office of
responsibility (selection or captaincy) in the team or on the board," it added.

Mushtaq, however, found support in England's chief coach Andy Flower who is "very comfortable" working with the former Pakistani player.     

"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. We're very comfortable working with Mushy. He's a lovely man and a good man for our system," Flower said.