Mohammed Ijaz Butt (born 10 March 1938) is a former Pakistani

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played in eight

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from 1959 to 1962. A

wicket keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

and right-handed opening batsman, he scored 279 runs from his brief Test career at a modest batting average of 19.92, however he was a capable wicket keeper with a

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

career for Lahore, Multan, Punjab and Rawalpindi where he scored 3,842 runs at 34.30 with a best of 161. For the next few decades, he worked as the director new projects at Service Industries Pakistan, expanding it to one of the largest manufacturer of footwear and motor cycle / cycle tyres and tubes. It is listed on the stock exchanges of Pakistan and has annual sales of Rs. 6 billion. he is a director on the board of

Servis Tyres Servis Tyres () is a Pakistani tire and tube manufacturer based in Gujrat city and Muridke, Pakistan. Company background Servis Industries Limited was founded by three college friends Chaudhry Nazar Mohammad and Chaudhry Mohammad Hussain from ...

. On 6 October 2008

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=s̤adr-i Pākiṣṭān), officially the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is the ceremonial head of state of Pakistan and the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces.Asif Ali Zardari, patron of the

Pakistan Cricket Board The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan national cricket team. A member of the International Cricket Coun ...

(PCB) appointed Butt as chairman of the PCB. He has been involved in several controversies during his career, presiding over Pakistan during a time when security concerns—including a shooting incident involving the

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

n tour bus—stripped the country of several international fixtures. He has made several attacks on current and former PCB officials and the

Senate of Pakistan Senate of Pakistan or Aiwān-e-Bālā Pākistān ( ur, , , literally "Pakistan upper house"), is the upper legislative chamber of the bicameral legislature of Pakistan, and together with the National Assembly makes up the Parliament of Pakista ...

Playing career

Butt was born in

Sialkot Sialkot ( ur, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of Sialkot District and the 13th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined with Jammu (the winter capital of Indian administered Jammu and Ka ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

in 1938. He began his first-class career against a touring

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

squad on 16 January 1956 while playing for Pakistan Universities. Batting at number three, he scored 35 and 97, falling three short of a debut century thanks to the bowling of Billy Sutcliffe and the catching hands of Ken Barrington. The match ended in a draw. A month later he faced the MCC once more, this time for

: he scored 43 and 18 as the MCC triumphed by an innings and 29 runs. Butt went on to make several successful appearances in the

Quaid-e-Azam Trophy The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket competition in Pakistan. With few exceptions, it has been staged annually since it was first played during the 1953–54 season. Domestic cricket in Pakistan has undergone many reorganis ...

over the winter of 1956/57, scoring 225 runs at 56.25 including a maiden century of 147 runs. He promptly toured the West Indies but only featured in one first-class match before returning to the 1958/59 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy where he had a less successful second season: 73 runs from three matches at 24.33, failing to pass 50. He nevertheless went straight into the Test team for the home series against the

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. Butt played Test cricket between 1959 and 1962. He made his Test debut at

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on 20 February 1959. The tourists, bowled out cheaply for 146 in the first innings, conceded a 10-wicket defeat with Butt scoring 14 and 41

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as a specialist opener. He scored two, 21, 47* and two in the rest of the series. Between 26 March and 4 December he played two more Tests against

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, scoring a career-best 58 in the second Test. He was then left out of the team until 1962, where he toured England for three Test matches. He struggled, scoring 10, 33, one, six, 10 and six before being dropped. Following the end of his international career, despite scoring over 1,000 first-class runs in the England tour including two centuries, he made only sporadic appearances in Pakistani domestic cricket. He appeared in only three Quaid-e-Azam Trophy matches between 1963 and 1965; an invitational XI match for the Punjab Governor against Pakistan Universities in 1966; Pakistan versus The Rest in 1967; and lastly one appearance in the Ayub Trophy on 15 January 1968 where he scored 40 and 15 for the Lahore Reds.

Administrative career

In 1982 Butt was appointed manager for the Pakistani winter tour of Australia, and in 1984 the secretary of the then Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan, a position he held until 1988 along with the presidency of the Lahore City Cricket Association. In October 2008 he was named chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board. His initial actions were to suggest the possibility of neutral venues to preserve international cricket during a time of tenuous security conditions within Pakistan: "The holding of the Champions Trophy in Pakistan depends on the security condition of the country and if the current indefinite situation prevails further we may consider the option to play on alternate venues." He expressed relief when the 2009 Champions Trophy appeared to be going ahead in Pakistan despite security risks, and "made a series of startling revelations" about discussions with the

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about merging with the Indian Premier League. Pakistan, however, received little support as potential hosts of the Champions Trophy, a fact on which Butt expressed surprise. He warned that a divide would occur in the world of cricket should sub-continent cricket tours be marginalised. India later cancelled their tour to Pakistan, though Butt was hoping to host Australia after the latter team expressed an interest. In October 2008 he also asked questions of the financial security of the previous PCB officials, and speculated on the removal of Geoff Lawson, then Pakistani coach, from his position. Two days later, however, he reversed his position by stating he was "duty-bound to fully back Lawson and to take care of all his liabilities." Shafqat Naghmi, PCB Chief Operating Officer, also threatened to sue Butt over allegations that the former was stealing official documents.

Loss of the World Cup

Security concerns did not lessen, however, and Javed Miandad's resignation as director-general of the PCB resulted in traded accusations between himself and Butt at a

meeting. Butt refused to step down, and attacked the senate as a body with little actual legal power over the PCB. The senate nevertheless moved a resolution for a change in the PCB management. However, Butt remained in his position. Following an attack on a touring

Sri Lanka cricket team The Sri Lanka men's national cricket team, ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජාතික ක්‍රිකට් කණ්ඩායම, ta, இலங்கை தேசிய கிரிக்கெட் அணி) nicknamed The Lions ...

in early 2009, Butt admitted in a public statement the difficulty international teams had in coming to the country, but accused ICC referee

Chris Broad Chris Broad may refer to: * Chris Broad (cricketer) Brian Christopher Broad (born 29 September 1957) is a former English cricketer and broadcaster who currently serves as a cricket official. As an opening batsman, he played 26 Test matches for ...

of exaggerating the problems. ICC President David Morgan, however, agreed with Broad's assessment. the

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was duly moved out of Pakistan. Butt continued to meet with the PCB board to regain the World Cup, to no avail, despite a legal battle which lasted until August. Eventually an out of court settlement of 18 million

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was agreed upon; Butt calling it "the best possible solution." Concurrently, the PCB under Butt dissolved the national selection panel and removed

Saleem Altaf Syed Saleem Altaf Bokhari (born 19 April 1944, Lahore, Punjab) is a former Pakistani cricketer who played in 21 Tests and 6 ODIs from 1967 to 1978. An opening bowler, Saleem Altaf played first-class cricket in Pakistan from 1963-64 to 1978-79. ...

from his position as chief operating officer. The summer tour of Sri Lanka was also marred by match-fixing allegations over which the PCB sought legal advice. The ICC's

Anti-Corruption and Security Unit The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are List of International Cricket Council members, 108 national associations, with 12 List of Internation ...

eventually cleared the Pakistan players of having had any contact with bookmakers. Towards the winter of 2009, Butt also came up against

Younis Khan Mohammad Younis Khan PP SI (Urdu: ; Pashto: ; born 29 November 1977) is a Pakistani professional cricket coach and former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team in all three formats of the game, and is widely regarded as ...

in a dispute over the captaincy, with Khan taking time out of the game. By January 2010, however, Butt ruled that a new captain would be chosen following the tour of Australia, with Khan quitting the captaincy. Further match fixing claims arose in February, and Butt promised action against the players involved following the report of an inquiry committee which investigated Pakistan's whitewash defeat during the tour of Australia. Further match fixing and financial corruption accusations followed for both Butt and the PCB in 2010. Nevertheless, the ICC announced on 11 February the awarding of a medal for Butt for services to cricket.

2010 England tour

Though Butt had deflected accusations of match fixing earlier in February 2010 during Pakistan's tour of Australia, the 2010 tour of England was publicly marred by controversial match fixing allegations involving a number of Pakistan players and their actions during the

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s against England and the Test series against the host nation and against

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confirmed on 17 September that it had questioned Pakistan players

Salman Butt Salman Butt (, born 7 October 1984) is a former Pakistani cricketer and captain who played for Pakistan national cricket team between 2003 and 2010, before getting banned for five years for his involvement in 2010 spot-fixing scandal. He had ...

, Mohammad Asif,

Mohammad Amir Mohammad Amir ( ur, ; born 13 April 1992) is a Pakistani cricketer and bowler for the Pakistan national cricket team. He is playing as a left-arm fast-medium bowler and uses his left hand when batting. Amir made his first-class debut in N ...

and

Wahab Riaz Wahab Riaz (Urdu, pa, ; born 28 June 1985) is a Pakistani cricketer. He is a left-arm fast bowler and a right-handed batsman. He frequently bowls at speeds of around 90 mph (144.8 km/h) and has reached . His all round performance i ...

over allegations of accepting bribes, and that the police had passed evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service. Several Pakistani players were suspended. Initially, Ijaz Butt had supported the prosecution of Amir, stating that "his board will not make any appeals for leniency", however on 19 September he attacked the England cricket team during a press conference, accusing them of a conspiracy to "defraud Pakistan cricket" by accepting their own bribes. He stated that:

"This is not a conspiracy to defraud bookies but a conspiracy to defraud Pakistan and Pakistan cricket... We have taken it in hand to start our own investigations. We will shortly reveal the names of the people, the parties and the bodies involved in this sinister conspiracy and we also reserve the right to sue them for damages... There is loud and clear talk in bookie circles that some English players have taken enormous amounts of money to lose the match he third ODI No wonder there was such a collapse."

The remarks provoked a backlash from the England and Wales Cricket Board as well as England coach Andy Flower and captain Andrew Strauss. The ECB announced that it would be taking legal action against Butt for his allegations, though the tour would continue despite several England players' reluctance to participate. There were several calls for Butt to resign, however he refused.

Wajid Shamsul Hasan Wajid Shamsul Hasan (died 28 September 2021) was a Pakistani diplomat since June 2008. He served as the High Commissioner of Pakistan to the United Kingdom.

, the Pakistan's high commissioner, defended Butt, calling the disagreement "a very innocent argument" and denying relationships with the

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were adversely affected. The England team later made official their demand for an apology in a letter sent to Butt, promising legal action without further warning if their request went unfulfilled. Butt arrived in London in late September vowing not to retract his comments in the run up to a meeting with the lawyers of three suspended Pakistan players; however, he later reversed course and retracted his statement. He was nevertheless recalled by the PCB for an explanation, amid speculation that his future as chairman remained tenuous. The ICC board of directors discussed sacking him in a meeting in

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should he not accept new anti-corruption measures.

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Butt, Ijaz 1938 births Living people Pakistani people of Kashmiri descent Ijaz Butt Pakistani cricketers Pakistan Cricket Board Presidents and Chairmen Rawalpindi cricketers Lahore cricketers Punjab (Pakistan) cricketers Multan cricketers Punjabi people Cricketers from Sialkot North Zone (Pakistan) cricketers Pakistan Universities cricketers Pakistan Eaglets cricketers