Dont ban Pakistan: Taylor

Dont ban Pakistan: Taylor  Updated :   Wednesday  September  1 , 2010  12:24:16 PM

SYDNEY: Former Australian cricket captain Mark Taylor said Wednesday suspending Pakistan from international cricket over alleged match fixing would be "too harsh". Taylor said it would be detrimental to cricket if an entire nation was banned because of the conduct of individuals. "I don't agree with that, I think it's too harsh a penalty for one nation," Taylor said. "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." Taylor said banning Pakistan would not serve to lift the stain of match fixing from cricket. "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 penalize 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." Taylor said combatting match fixing was a major challenge, not just in cricket. "(Match-fixing) is probably there in all sports," he said. "You can not monitor people 24/7," he said. "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'." Earlier Wednesday, former New Zealand captain and ICC match referee John Reid joined calls for Pakistan's removal from world cricket.