Butt, Amir, Asif to meet PCB chief, high commissioner

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

TAUNTON: The three Pakistan cricketers embroiled in spot-fixing allegations are to leave the squad on Wednesday to face their cricket chief and government authorities, de facto sidelining them from the team.

Test captain Salman Butt, plus bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, were to leave Pakistan’s training camp in Taunton, southwest England, and head to London for a meeting with officials.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has said it will not suspend them while the allegations are being investigated, though their date in London means they are set to miss the next match, effectively deferring the highly contentious decision over whether they should play on.

Pakistan are due to face county side Somerset in Taunton on Thursday in a warm-up match ahead of their limited overs internationals against England.

Butt, Amir and Asif are set to miss out as they head for talks with PCB chairman Ijaz Butt and Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan’s high commissioner (ambassador) to Britain.

It is thought the three players will not rejoin the squad until Friday at the earliest.

It appears increasingly likely that they will play no further part in the tour.

Following the Somerset warm-up, Pakistan face two Twenty20 matches against England in Cardiff on Sunday and Tuesday, then five one-day internationals.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has promised “prompt and decisive action” if the “spot-fixing” allegations made by Britain’s biggest-selling newspaper are proven.

Customs officials in Britain said they had arrested and bailed two men and a woman on Sunday “as part of an ongoing investigation into money laundering”.

A source confirmed the arrests were linked to the cricket scandal.

They were a man and a woman, both aged 35 and from Croydon in south London, and a 49-year-old man from Wembley in northwest London.

“These individuals were arrested, questioned and have been bailed pending further investigation,” Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs said in a statement.

The News of the World tabloid alleges that Mazhar Majeed, a 35-year-old Croydon-based agent for several Pakistan players, took 150,000 pounds (185,000 euros, 230,000 dollars) to arrange for deliberate no-balls to be bowled at precise points in the final Test match against England in London last week.

The information would be of enormous value to the spot-betting industry, where money is wagered on specific incidents in matches.

The weekly newspaper produced audiovisual footage of their dealings with Majeed on their website and printed conversation transcripts and pictures.

Majeed was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers in the wake of the allegations, but was released on bail without charge on Sunday, to return on a future date.

Detectives interviewed Butt, Asif and 18-year-old prodigy Amir, who delivered the no-balls – normally an accidental and unpredictable occurrence – and police seized their mobile phones.

Pakistan held a training session at the County Ground in Taunton on Tuesday, but reporters were barred on the request of the Pakistan team.

Somerset chief executive Richard Gould told AFP: “I think in these particular circumstances, we understand.”

The world of cricket has reacted with shock and dismay to claims that huge sums of money had changed hands in alleged fixing schemes at international level, linked to shadowy betting rings.

Investigators from the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit are in Britain looking into the allegations.