Pakistan Cricket Board seeks ACSU help

The Pakistan Cricket Board will seek “clearance” from the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit for its preliminary list of World Cup players before finalising its squad for next year’s tournament.

The decision was taken by the PCB’s governing board.

According to the minutes of the meeting - a copy of which was obtained by the

Associated Press on Monday - the PCB could seek the International Cricket Council anti-corruption watchdog’s approval for even more than 30 Pakistan players.

The deadline for countries to register preliminary squads for the World Cup is November 30. The final 15-man squads can be announced up to a month before the event starts in the subcontinent on February 19.

PCB chairman Ijaz Butt informed the governing board members that the ACSU will give their “feedback to PCB whether there were some doubt about player(s).”

The ICC’s three-member anti-corruption tribunal - headed by Michael Beloff - will hear the cases against Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir starting on January 6 at Doha, Qatar.

Beloff has already rejected appeals against the provisional suspensions from Butt and Amir.

The ICC has made it clear that the PCB should distance itself from the tainted players and should not provide any legal assistance to the three cricketers involved in the ongoing investigation.

“PCB has also withdrawn its earlier request to ICC to have the PCB’s lawyer sit as observer in these players’ proceedings,” the minutes of the meeting said.