It felt like we'd won the Ashes and the World Cup all rolled into one

[Sachinism]

GRAEME SWANN - Cricket columnist THE England players have never been as pumped up for a match as we were playing the final one-dayer against Pakistan. When Eoin Morgan held the winning catch on Wednesday night, we joined together in a huge huddle and jumped and danced for joy. It felt like we'd won the Ashes and the World Cup all rolled into one. That victory was the perfect answer to all the rotten allegations and scandals that have happened over the past few weeks. Unbelievably, we were accused of throwing a match and then I found myself in the horrible position of not wanting to go ahead with an England game at Lord's. In one of the most hurtful incidents, the England team was abused at The Oval by people wearing Pakistan shirts but speaking with London accents. OK, where to begin? First I want to say I agree 100 per cent with the decision to send a letter on behalf of the England team demanding an apology from PCB chairman Ijaz Butt. If we do not receive a satisfactory response, we will start legal proceedings. Mr Butt's comments about bookmakers claiming we deliberately lost the third one-dayer in return for "enormous amounts of money" were as offensive as they could possibly be. They went against everything I stand for as a professional sportsman. We felt powerless as players because as soon as somebody says something like that and it is read by cricket followers, our names are sullied. You can't go around accusing people and pointing fingers with completely unsubstantiated claims. In the civilised world, it is not something that should happen. I hope Mr Butt sees sense and retracts his claims or there must be severe consequences for him. The Test match at Lord's last month was overshadowed by claims that Pakistan's bowlers purposely overstepped for no-balls. The one-dayer at Lord's was played against the backdrop of Mr Butt's words. Lord's is always the biggest match of the year because of the surroundings and the history of the place. But I couldn't wait for those games to end and get the hell out of there. It was a dreadful feeling and one I never want to experience again. In fact, I didn't want to play at all in the one-dayer on Monday. I won't lie about that - I was dead against playing. And I wasn't alone, plenty of other players had strong reservations. But Straussy, who has been brilliant throughout this episode, persuaded us the best thing we could do was get on with it as a team and make sure we won the series. He was proved to be right. Until the last couple of matches, our relationship with the Pakistan players was fine. There are a couple of individuals who irked us with chat or sledging but that's pretty normal with any opposition. But, by the end, strained was probably the best word to describe the atmosphere between the teams. Things were going on that shouldn't be going on in a game of cricket like the incident between Jonathan Trott and Wahab Riaz. The taunts we received from the crowd were not pleasant. As we left The Oval, people with broad London accents wearing the green shirts of Pakistan were slagging us off. It was hard hearing the England team being abused by people who sound English. There's no doubt it wound us up but such things added to the feeling of euphoria on Wednesday night when we won. To have lost that final match at the Rose Bowl would have been horrendous - especially after leading 2-0 and with everything that went on. At 50-3 and with Colly then walking off with a migraine, I was thinking, 'Bloody hell, where did this summer all go wrong?' But Morgs played another brilliant innings and we were so pumped in the field. You could tell from our huddle and in the changing room afterwards what it meant. We just HAD to win that match. In fact, I think Wednesday was the greatest day of my sporting life. We beat Pakistan, my team Newcastle won at Chelsea and my second team, Northampton Town, beat Liverpool. I was born in Northampton and have always had a big soft spot for the Cobblers. There I was in the dressing room on Wednesday, drinking champagne and watching the Cobblers win the penalty shootout at Anfield on Jimmy Anderson's phone! Fantastic stuff. Now, I'm relieved the series against Pakistan is over. With all the claims flying around, there were times when I just wanted the summer to go away - even though I've been bowling better than at any stage in my career in recent weeks. Now there has to be a thorough investigation so we can find out for sure what is or has been going on. The bottom line is that anybody found guilty of any sort of corruption in cricket should be thrown out the game. There shouldn't be rehabilitation or anything like that, just ban them for life. You can't besmirch the game of cricket and expect to get another chance. Similarly, anybody who comes out with wild claims - like Mr Butt the other day - needs their position reviewing as well. Now, with the squad announced yesterday, we can finally begin to think about the Ashes. It's going to be brilliant. There are only five weeks before we leave and I'm counting down the days already. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/cricket/3150865/Beating-Pakistan-was-like-winning-Ashes-and-World-Cup-says-Graeme-Swann.html

[f.b.m]

He seems to share my feelings on the Paki BBCDs.

[vvvslaxman]

I am not trusting this source. For any English cricketer Ashes is the pinnacle. That too against a substandard side like Pakistan who have been languishing at no.7 in both test and ODI ranking.

[goose]

It does irk that the English will readily accept a Scotsman or Australian in their midst supporting Scotland or Australia yet a man of brown color is somehow committing treason when he bats for his parentage. A brown man is viewed as a parasite. A white immigrant is seen to be engaging in some synergistic contract between two cultures.

[Dhondy]

It does irk that the English will readily accept a Scotsman or Australian in their midst supporting Scotland or Australia yet a man of brown color is somehow committing treason when he bats for his parentage. A brown man is viewed as a parasite. A white immigrant is seen to be engaging in some synergistic contract between two cultures.

Goose, you know better than that. Hordes of Indian & Pakistani supporters turn up every year to support their sides in fixtures played against England- English players and English media accept that with good grace. This is different. These Pakistani fans, all English born, educated or employed here, were hurling filthy abuse at the English players as if they had engineered the shameful behaviour on part of the Pakistani players and officials all summer. Sore losers who couldn't take the beating that England gave their side in all three forms of the game. Ask yourself- what would have happened to them if they had done this to Aussie players in an Australian stadium? The UK is one of the most tolerant countries in this world. But tolerance has its limits and it was pushed to breaking point in this series.

[Sachinism]

I am not trusting this source. For any English cricketer Ashes is the pinnacle. That too against a substandard side like Pakistan who have been languishing at no.7 in both test and ODI ranking.

Article was written by Swann himself

[veer]

Swann is like Veeru.. speaks his mind whether you like it or not.. I wouldnt blame him.. If a muslim in Indian stadium supports bangla or pak againt us, i wouldnt like it.. so its the same thing..

[goose]

Goose, you know better than that. Hordes of Indian & Pakistani supporters turn up every year to support their sides in fixtures played against England- English players and English media accept that with good grace. This is different. These Pakistani fans, all English born, educated or employed here, were hurling filthy abuse at the English players as if they had engineered the shameful behaviour on part of the Pakistani players and officials all summer. Sore losers who couldn't take the beating that England gave their side in all three forms of the game. Ask yourself- what would have happened to them if they had done this to Aussie players in an Australian stadium? The UK is one of the most tolerant countries in this world. But tolerance has its limits and it was pushed to breaking point in this series.

Excessive abuse is unacceptable but should the fact the voices were broad London accents make it more so? Yes, the UK is extremely tolerant, and that's good if being tolerated is your thing.

[Pak_Forever]

wait until you tour Australia you crybabies. Your "white" Englishman are known for worse act possible 'throwing banana's at African football players' so don't cry about verbal abuse here. It's part of the game and not all fans are the same.

[bhanu]

wait until you tour Australia you crybabies. Your "white" Englishman are known for worse act possible 'throwing banana's at African football players' so don't cry about verbal abuse here. It's part of the game and not all fans are the same.

Yea true and my big bro told me dat we kicked england ass alot of time so its ok if we loose couple of game and also i hope auss toss dem out of statdium :hatsoff:

[King Tendulkar]

wait until you tour Australia you crybabies. Your "white" Englishman are known for worse act possible 'throwing banana's at African football players' so don't cry about verbal abuse here. It's part of the game and not all fans are the same.

Nothing is as racist as pakistan. Non muslims in pakistan are dirt and treated as such!Even muslims who are Shia are treated like crap, hence the bombings of their mosques. People in glass houses should not throw stones

[King Tendulkar]

Goose, you know better than that. Hordes of Indian & Pakistani supporters turn up every year to support their sides in fixtures played against England- English players and English media accept that with good grace. This is different. These Pakistani fans, all English born, educated or employed here, were hurling filthy abuse at the English players as if they had engineered the shameful behaviour on part of the Pakistani players and officials all summer. Sore losers who couldn't take the beating that England gave their side in all three forms of the game. Ask yourself- what would have happened to them if they had done this to Aussie players in an Australian stadium? The UK is one of the most tolerant countries in this world. But tolerance has its limits and it was pushed to breaking point in this series.

So true. Good post