Lamb faces angry British media

Lahore, Nov 18: The English media grilled the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) over the establishment's decision to allow Alec Stewart continue playing despite being named in an Indian CBI report two weeks back.

The English newsmen fired in hard-hitting questions for more than 30 minutes and even succeeded in cornering Tim Lamb. But they failed to break his firm stand of not suspending the former England captain because of the lack of evidence. "Our legal advisor and instinct told us its absolutely and completely wrong to suspend somebody with all that entailed and in the light of totally uncorroborated and unsubstantiated allegations which we all know is general mudslinging," Lamb repeated several times.

He added: "Sir Paul Condon (chief of the ICC anti-corruption unit) said he believed we were absolutely right in not suspending Stewart."

Lamb also explained that Alec Stewart's case has been closed for the moment. "Those named in the Indian CBI report will be interviewed in due course. "In the specific case of Alec Stewart, no interview will take place until after the conclusion of this series," Lamb said. "We have said that if anybody is found guilty of indulging in this sort of malpractice, they can expect the harshest punishment. People think we acted rightly and don't look stupid. At the moment there is absolutely no corroborated evidence that Stewart is involved.