3-member Pakistan team reach London: report

According to a report in the ‘The Times’,federal agents,working with PCB chief Ijaz Butt and High Commissioner for Pakistan to London Wajid Shamsul Hasan,had taken control of the situation from the team management.

The anti-corruption unit of the International Cricket Council under former Northern Ireland police chief Sir Ronnie Flanagan,was already investigating members of the Pakistan team before the scandal broke.

The report said forensic accountants at the Metropolitan Police are examining the financial records of Mazhar Majeed,the agent caught receiving 150,000 pounds for information about three no-balls in the Lord’s Test last week,as well as documents belonging to the players to establish a money trail between the men.

Bowlers Mohammad Aamir and Mohammad Asif and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal were questioned by police at the weekend along with captain Salman Butt. Several more players could be interviewed as the inquiry spreads to Pakistan and the Far East.

The Crown Prosecution Service will be consulted at an early stage and this will be crucial in deciding if any player is witness or suspect,which affects how they would be questioned in the next few weeks.

The ICC’s anti-corruption unit has already opened its own inquiry into the spot-fixing allegations,the report said. It is looking at 82 international matches that could have been tainted by Majeed’s involvement.

These include a Test in Tasmania in January when Aamir dropped a simple catch from a hook shot by Ricky Pointing,the Australian captain.

The Football Association has been asked to launch an urgent inquiry as Majeed owns Croydon Athletic Football Club.

Alan Turvey,chairman of the Ryman League said he had e-mailed the FA’s financial compliance department asking them to look into allegations,made in the ‘News of the World’,that the club was being used to launder money allegedly made from the betting scam.

According to the report,some of the unusual incidents in more than 80 international matches are being investigated.

Australia’s victory in a Sydney Test by 36 runs early this year after conceding a first-innings deficit of 206 will also be under scanner.

Mike Hussey and Peter Siddle had put on 123 for the ninth wicket in their second innings to give Australia a chance in the match,which saw wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal drop Hussey three times. He had also missed a chance to run Hussey out.

Majeed claimed to have made more than 1 million from this Test match,the report said.

Another match under probe is Pakistan losing in the final ball against Australia in the 2009 Champions Trophy,having bowled 12 wides in the Australia innings.

Earlier,Misbah-ul-Haq was out “hit wicket” in a very unusual fashion — he stepped back to leave a ball that was called wide and trod on his stumps.

Pakistan lost a one-day match in Sri Lanka in Lahore by a record 234 runs in 2009. Tillakaratne Dilshan was dropped on 1 by Salman Butt,another player under investigation,and went on to make 137,with many other pieces of careless fielding.

Butt was then out first ball as Pakistan were dismissed for 75.

The team bowled 20 wides and nine no-balls in one innings against India in Dhaka in 2008. They also dropped Gautam Gambhir twice in the first nine overs.

In the Lord’s Test against Australia last month,Umar Gul bowled nine no-balls in Australia’s first innings,one of which was over the crease by a long way. He bowled a further three no-balls in the second innings out of a team total of nine.