One-day series 'must continue'

The England and Wales Cricket Board yesterday asked the International Cricket Council whether they had evidence against any player, which was likely to result in a charge under the anti-corruption code before the conclusion of the NatWest Series.

In a subsequent statement, the ECB conveyed "no substantive evidence has been shared with ECB or PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board]" by the world governing body – themselves acting on information received from The Sun newspaper, which warranted investigation of a "certain scoring pattern" in Friday's one-day international at the Brit Oval.

Strauss reiterated that stance yesterday, but also voiced his personal belief that it is incumbent on the ICC to make sure the opportunity to rid cricket of corruption – arising from the crises of the past three weeks – is not missed.

"It's not ideal that the cricket is being overshadowed even more than it was previously by these latest allegations," he said.

"But we don't know how credible they are, so as a side – unless the ICC come out and say they are very credible – we've just got to continue to play and to strive to win this series."

Strauss can scarcely believe that any cricketer would be brazen enough to indulge in spot-fixing at a time when all are under the microscope thanks to the controversy which began when allegations were made that Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif were involved in a plot to bowl no-balls to order in the Lord's Test.

All three deny any wrongdoing but have been charged and suspended under the ICC's anti-corruption code.

"The last thing the game needs right now is to be dragged through the mill even further," added the England captain."I just don't see how we can do anything different (to playing the final two matches of the series], because we have no idea as to whether these allegations are at all credible or not.

"It would be wrong for us to vote with our feet on something that may be just a crank call. We just don't know."