Saturday, August 28, 2010

Pakistan players Match Fixing Scandal rocks the England vs Pakistan Test Series

Pakistan players Match Fixing Scandal rocks the England vs Pakistan Test Series

Tags: abdul qadir, pcb, indian bookies, pakistan, colombo, sri lanka pakistan test series, pakistan tour of sri lanka, match fixing.

A man has been arrested on charges of fixing the Lord's test match between England and Pakistan, with four Pakistani players allegedly involved.

A man named Mazhar Majeed was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers.

The News of the World have alleged that some members of the Pakistan team were involved in cheating during the test.

Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir are two of the four players who have been named by News of the World. Captain Salman Butt and wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal are also involved, according to the news outlet.

The newspaper carried out a sting operation in which they posed as the representatives of a gambling cartel who sat with Majeed in his hotel room and saw him predict which deliveries from Asif and Amir would be no-balls.

The matter has been handed to Scotland Yard for further investigation.

A Scotland Yard spokeman said: "Following information received from the News of the World we have today (Saturday August 28) arrested a 35-year old man on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers."

The England team is understood to be aware of the claims and is currently expecting tomorrow's play to go ahead as scheduled.

The Pakistani side has been dogged by match fixing allegations since the 1990s.

In May this year the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption unit looked at the team's poor performance after being heavily beaten by Australia during a tour of the country.

The Pakistani cricket board conducted their own investigation into the winless tour, a process which culminated in Younus Khan and tour captain Mohammad Yousuf, among others, being banned.

The latter was recalled earlier this month and is on duty at Lord's.

Last year a committee of Pakistan's parliament summoned senior figures from the team to discuss allegations that they deliberately lost a Champions Trophy match to prevent India from reaching the semi-finals.

The state of Pakistan cricket was already in turmoil prior to tonight's allegations.

Repeated incidents of terrorism in the flood-ravaged country resulted in the team playing all their games overseas.

The claims follow allegations of ball tampering against the Pakistan team during a tour to England four years ago.

Australian umpire Darrell Hair hit the tourists with five penalty runs at The Oval and the match later became the first forfeited game in Test history after Inzamam-ul-Haq's team initially refused to take the field in protest.

At their team hotel in north London, Pakistan bowler Mohammad Asif told Press Association Sport: "I have spoken to the management and they have told us something happened, but not what.

"The management will tell us more later. We are 100% focused on the match tomorrow."

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