Another stupid end to Shoaib's career

Few careers could have finished more often than Shoaib Akhtar's. Ironically, this end is probably the least deserved. A five-year ban for breaching the code of conduct of a cricket board that fails to demonstrate any high standards of its own is farcical. Pakistan's cricket board has lost all perspective if it believes this ban to be reasonable. A five-year ban will certainly end Shoaib's international career and, if it does that, the blame will rest as much with the cricket board's mismanagement as it does with Shoaib's unprofessionalism. This is another sad day for Pakistan cricket, which is now firmly establishing itself as an irrelevance on the international stage. Bravo Dr Ashraf and Co. Way to go.