Four Pakistani cricketers facing police investigation for their role in alleged spot-fixing are likely to be kept out of the rest of the Pakistan-England tour following pressure from the English and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) which is reported to be “adamant” that they should be dropped from the remaining matches.
Captain Salman Butt, wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal and bowlers Mohammad Amer and Mohammad Asif were questioned by Scotland Yard detectives for several hours on Saturday over allegations of spot-fixing during last week's final Test against England at Lord's.
Report to be ready in 48 hours
There were calls for them to be suspended, but Haroon Lorgat, chief executive of the International Cricket Council (ICC), which is conducting its own investigations, said the allegations, though “serious”, had not been proven.
Any action should wait until the ICC gave its report, he said, adding it was expected to be ready in the next 48 hours, well before the start of the Twenty20 series in Cardiff on Sunday. “We're busy with the Metropolitan Police and hope, before the weekend arrives, we can get to some sort of a conclusion. We are working hard, but it's important to remember that an individual is innocent until proven guilty,” he told the BBC as officials from Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency were expected to arrive here to help with Scotland Yard's investigations.
More than 80 international matches involving Pakistan would be investigated.
These include the second Test between Pakistan and Australia in Sydney in January that Australia won after a dramatic Pakistani collapse.
The investigations follow claims of match-fixing by a London-based Pakistani property developer Mazhar Majeed. He was secretly filmed accepting £1,50,000 from an undercover journalist and predicting that Amer and Asif would bowl three no-balls during the Lord's Test. Which they did the next day.
‘Big challenge'
Pakistan coach Waqar Younis said he was trying to get the team “up again” as it arrived in Taunton, southwest England, for a warm-up match on Thursday ahead of the T20 and one-day matches.
“It is no doubt a big challenge and I'll try to make the most of it and I'll try and make sure everybody is nicely focussed for the games,” he said. .
