3 Pakistani cricketers to meet officials over scandal
Last Updated: Tuesday, August 31, 2010 | 1:18 PM ET
The Associated Press
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Pakistan cricket captain Salman Butt and opening bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif will travel to London on Wednesday to meet with Pakistan officials in the wake of match-fixing allegations.
Team manager Yawar Saeed made the announcement in the team hotel in Taunton, England, on Tuesday, and said Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ejaz Butt and the country's high commissioner will attend the meeting.
The three players are expected to return to the squad, Saeed said.
British newspaper The News of the World reported Sunday that Pakistan's bowlers were paid to deliberately bowl no-balls on Thursday's opening day of the fourth Test against England at Lord's. The three players and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal were implicated in the story.
Asif, Amir and Butt had their mobile phones confiscated by police, who also searched hotel rooms and questioned players late Saturday as part of an investigation also involving the International Cricket Council's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit.
Pakistan's cricketers held a closed training session Tuesday, locked away from a media circus seeking to uncover if the players illegally fixed or manipulated matches.
Pakistan prepared for a warmup game against Somerset in the western England town of Taunton from Thursday with a net session that was unusually closed to the media. The three players weren't on the team bus for an afternoon training session.
"It's a challenge and we will try to make sure they are focused on the game," Pakistan coach Waqar Younis said of the difficulties in now motivating his players.
Pakistani and ICC officials are due to meet to decide if the implicated players should be suspended from the two Twenty20 games and five one-day internationals against England starting from Sunday.
The News of the World said it secretly filmed its undercover reporters, posing as frontmen for a Far East gambling cartel, in discussion with a man it identifies as London-based businessman Mazhar Majeed, who appears to accept £150,000 ($245,865 Cdn) in order to make sure no-balls are bowled at certain times during the fourth Test.
England won the match by an inning and 225 runs to take the series 3-1.
Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik said earlier Tuesday that he wanted to wait for an initial British police report before sending an investigation team to England.
He said the Pakistan inquiry team would include two senior Federal Investigation Agency officials and one from the sports ministry. Sports minister Ijaz Jakhrani said there was no need to rush an investigation team to Britain on Tuesday.
"No charges are yet framed against our cricketers, so we should not become emotional," Jakhrani said.
HMRC, Britain's customs and revenue agency, said two men and a woman were questioned in London on Monday in connection with the fixing allegations. The trio are from London, and police spoke to them as part of an investigation into money laundering.
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