Pakistan’s cricket board said yesterday it would not suspend top players accused over a betting scam while the claims are probed, but reports suggest they will not play the rest of the tour in England.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has promised “prompt and decisive action” if the allegations made by a British Sunday newspaper are proven, insisting that corruption would not be tolerated.
Pakistani authorities have also promised severe punishment, but the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said yesterday it would not suspend any players while police investigated the players.
“Chairman Ijaz Butt just told me that since there is a case going on with the Scotland Yard we are not going to suspend any player,” a PCB spokesman said. “He further said that this is only an allegation so far. There is still no charge or proof on that account. So at this stage there will be no action taken.”
According to British media reports, the players named in the News of the World allegations — captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and Kamran Akmal — are unlikely to play in the series of one-day internationals against England.
The News of the World, a British Sunday tabloid, alleged that a middleman took £150,000 (US$230,000) to arrange for the Pakistani players to deliberately bowl no-balls.
The Pakistan team begin their preparation for the one-day series, which follows the Test series in which the alleged betting scam took place, with a practice match against English county Somerset tomorrow.
The first one-day match against England is on Sunday.
Investigators from the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit have traveled to Britain to look into the claims, and ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said action would be taken against any guilty players.
“The integrity of the game is of paramount importance. Prompt and decisive action will be taken against those who seek to harm it,” Lorgat said in a statement on Monday, adding: “We will not tolerate corruption in this great game.”
Pakistan’s top crime investigative agency will send a team to Britain this week to probe corruption allegations against some of the players. A senior official at the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Karachi said the three-member team was likely to leave for London today and planned to meet British police and players.
PRESIDENT WEIGHS IN
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, who is the patron of the PCB, has also sought reports from Pakistani officials in London, according to his official spokesman.
“The president is in touch with the high commissioner in London and has asked for reports on the issue,” Farhatullah Babar said.
The ICC’s anti-corruption unit has been asked to submit a report on its investigation within the next three days, the world governing body’s president Sharad Pawar said on Monday.
Pawar has ruled out the possibility of Pakistan cutting short their tour of England.
The scandal has outraged cricket fans in Pakistan and the country’s federal sports minister, Mir Ijaz Hussain Jakhrani, said the players would be given “maximum punishment” if allegations against them were proved.
“No one has the right to play with the dignity, honor of the country,” he said. “If the allegations are proved then there could be maximum punishment.”
“It could be lifetime ban, it could be anything, it depends on the allegations,” he said.
Pakistan’s interior minister yesterday hinted that the allegations in England could have been cooked up as part of a conspiracy against the national side.
However, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik also told reporters that if wrongdoing was proven the players would be dealt with harshly.
“If there is a conspiracy against our team to defame Pakistan then we would like to know the facts and we will exonerate ourselves,” Malik said. “But at the same time our whole leadership is agreed that if any player is found to be involved we will make an example out of him.”
AUSTRALIAN LINK
Meanwhile, Australian cricketer Shane Watson says he and fellow test player Brad Haddin were approached by an illegal Indian bookmaker on last year’s Ashes tour of England.
Watson yesterday said both players immediately took the issue to team management because the man was “more intense” than most ordinary fans who approach them.
The bookmaker met players while the Australian team was staying at an exclusive hotel in London and praised the 29-year-old Watson before inviting him out for drinks and “a bit of fun.”
“I didn’t think too much more of it until I found out a bit more information and that he was actually one of the illegal bookmakers,” Watson said. “It was just a little bit different to what normal fans are.”
Watson said he was sorry to hear about the possible involvement in the alleged betting scandal of Pakistan bowler Mohammad Amir.
OTHER PLAYERS SPEAK
“I probably feel for him more than anyone because he’s only a young, naive and innocent young guy,” Watson said. “I found him to be a brilliant competitor on the field. He always gave everything he got every single time that I competed against him and I found him to be an extremely skillful bowler for a 19-year-old.”
Amid the latest claims of match-fixing, Pakistan’s surprising loss from a commanding position in a Test against Australia earlier this year has been called into question by some critics. Pakistan lost the three-match series 3-0.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper said it understood that the ICC had asked the Pakistan authorities for the four players cited in the allegations to be dropped from the squad, although no official request has been made.
Despite calls for this week’s series to be scrapped, England spin bowler Graeme Swann insisted the one-day fixtures should be fulfilled.
“I’m keen for them to go ahead,” he wrote in the Sun newspaper. “With nothing proved, I will have no problem whatsoever about who I play against.”
The scandal has hit hard in Pakistan. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the claims “have bowed our heads in shame” and has launched an investigation.
Cricket in Pakistan has been dogged by “fixing” allegations since the 1990s.
However, Pakistan cricket great Imran Khan said this could be the worst scandal of all.
“If, God forbid, it turns out to be true then it will be the biggest setback for Pakistan cricket and, probably, end the careers of the two best bowlers in the world,” Khan said.
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