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Salman Butt - Source: Photosport -
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Australian cricket great Mark Taylor has hosed down calls to ban Pakistan from world cricket, saying such a decision would be "too harsh".
In the wake of the betting scandal which has gripped the cricketing world, Pakistan has come under the microscope for the widespread levels of alleged match-fixing and spot-fixing amongst their player group.
But the former Test captain said it would be detrimental to the game for an entire nation to be banished from the international scene, and preferred that punishment should be handed out to the individuals involved.
"I don't agree with that, I think it's too harsh a penalty for one nation," Taylor said today.
"If they have one person, two people, three people involved in match-fixing or fixing certain deliveries - to throw the whole nation? No, I'm not for that.
"I think it would not be a good thing for world cricket to have Pakistan not involved."
Taylor said that match-fixing may be a problem that sport could never remove itself from, and that the suggestion of foul play could stick to cricket well into the future - even if a national ban was enforced.
"You're always going to ask those questions," he said.
"(If) you throw them out, when they come back you're still going to ask those questions.
"I think all you can do is penalise the individuals and embark on an education process and hopefully stop people from doing this sort of thing, but I think throwing the nation out of world cricket I don't think is right.
"(Match-fixing) is probably there in all sports. You cannot monitor people 24/7.
"It comes down to education and it comes down at the end of the day saying 'if you get involved in it, the repercussions are going to be damning'."
