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6th September, 2010
CARDIFF: A fourth Pakistan cricketer was reportedly being investigated over alleged match-fixing Sunday, with fresh betting scam claims casting a shadow over the country’s one-day match against England.
Britain’s News of the World tabloid said the International Cricket Council (ICC), which has already charged three Pakistan stars under its anti-corruption code, was now probing a fourth player, but did not name him.
The same newspaper last week caused a major scandal by claiming it paid Mazhar Majeed, an agent for several Pakistan players, 150,000 pounds (185,000 euros, US$230,000) for advance knowledge of no-balls in last month’s final Test against England, which could then be bet upon.
That prompted the ICC to charge Test captain Salman Butt, 25, rising 18-year-old bowling star Mohammad Aamer plus another bowler, Mohammad Asif, 27, and suspend them pending a decision on the allegations.
This week, the paper said that up to 15,000 pounds of the cash it allegedly handed to Majeed was found in Butt’s London hotel room. Butt’s lawyer denied any wrongdoing, saying it would not be unusual for his agent to give him money.
It also claimed that Pakistan batsman Yasir Hameed had confirmed its reports and said the three players were facing 23 charges from the ICC, which refused to comment on the latest reports.
Despite the fresh wave of controversy, Pakistan’s team manager Yawar Saeed insisted that Sunday’s first Twenty20 match against England in Cardiff Sunday would still go ahead.
“The match goes ahead, absolutely. I will be taking the boys to the ground, unless somebody tells me any different,” he said.
But the game will be played out against a murky backdrop of allegations against some of cricket’s hottest talents, although the three players in the spotlight will not be playing.
Pakistan’s top diplomat in Britain, high commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan who previously said the ICC should not have suspended them and accused it of “playing to the public gallery”, called Sunday for the trio to be banned if the case against them is proved.
“If they are found guilty, they must be punished properly, not only banned for life but I would see that they are prosecuted properly in a court of law,” he told BBC radio.
Hameed reportedly told an undercover reporter for the News of the World that some teammates “were doing it (fixing) in almost every match. God knows what they were up to. Scotland Yard was after them for ages.”
But speaking to AFP late Saturday, Hameed denied he had spoken to the paper or bad-mouthed other players.
“I can never think of blaming my teammates in match-fixing,” said the batsman, who remains in England after playing in Pakistan’s Test series here, despite not being picked for the one-day matches.
“The newspaper is claiming I have given them an interview. This is not correct.”
On Saturday, Pakistan one-day captain Shahid Afridi had apologised for the scandal , telling reporters: “I think this is very bad news.
“On behalf of these boys, I know they are not in this series, I want to say sorry to all cricket lovers and all the cricketing nations.”
The news has caused fury among many cricket fans in Pakistan.
Former batsman Younis Ahmed told BBC radio that people were “totally furious and very disappointed” by the reports, particularly in the wake of recent turmoil in the country.
“All the floods that Pakistan had, 16 million people without their homes, belongings, their livestock destroyed and their livelihoods at stake, this was the last thing they were expecting,” he said.
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