The Pakistan Match Fixing Scandal

Former England batsman Allan Lamb has called for life bans to be imposed if any Pakistan player is found to have been involved in fixing during the fourth Test against England at Lord's.

Responding to allegations of Indian bookies being involved in the latest match-fixing controversy surrounding Pakistan cricket team, International Cricket Council President Sharad Pawar said in Mumbai that there was no question of Indian link in the scandal.

Australian cricketers Shane Watson and Brad Haddin were approached by a suspected Mumbai gangster, linked with bookmakers in India, during the tour of England last year, a media report claimed on Tuesday. A report in the Sydney Morning Herald said Watson was approached in the bar of the team's West London hotel, the Royal Kensington Garden, after the Lord's Test, and Haddin was confronted during the World Twenty20 tournament last year. "Both players had immediately reported the approaches to the authorities and neither is suspected of any wrongdoing," the newspaper said. The report has come after spot-fixing allegations against several Pakistani cricketers, including captain Salman Butt, have shocked the world cricket.

Pakistani captain Salman Butt and fast-pacers Mohammed Asif and Mohammed Amir have been summoned to London for another round of questioning by Scotland Yard in connection with the no-ball controversy that has erupted during the current England vs Pakistan series. The three players were in Taunton with the rest of the team ahead of a friendly match against Somerset.

The backlash against the tainted Pakistan team intensified yesterday when a major sponsor suspended its ties with Mohammad Amir and announced it is reviewing its contract with the Pakistan Cricket Board. Boom Boom, a clothing and cricket equipment company, have suspended their ties with Amir until a police investigation into a match-fixing ring ends and is considering severing ties with the PCB only six months into a two-year deal.

Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif will be replaced after the two Twenty20 internationals against England in Cardiff but officials from the PCB denied they have been formally suspended. The decision is a surprising U-turn from the PCB whose chairman, Ijaz Butt, hardened their stance only last night saying that “we cannot decide [about whether the three play] on the basis of allegations. Unless we charge someone, they are free to do whatever they want.”

The three Pakistan players at the centre of match-fixing allegations have protested their innocence but pulled out of the remainder of the tour to England citing mental fatigue. Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir met with the Pakistan High Commission in London this morning and a spokesman later said they deny claims in the News of the World at the weekend that they were part of a spot-fixing ring. They have not been formally suspended by the PCB but their withdrawal is the result of heavy cricketing political pressure behind the scenes.

The Pakistan team will have their earnings and assets examined by tax officials following the allegations of fixing during the Lord’s Test. The Pakistan Cricket Board has also been ordered to submit all expenses paid to players, selectors, coaches and managers over the same period as the Pakistani government takes its first major step to combat corruption after the suspension of three players last week for alleged spot-fixing.

In his statement, Hameed said that after discussing sponsorship deals, the man he knew by the name of Abid Khan, offered him a sum of £25,000 to give a statement against his three team-mates who found themselves at the centre of the spot-fixing controversy to which Hameed said, he, "immediately refused and put the phone down. I was neither called nor answered any calls from Abid after this conversation."

Three Pakistani cricketers, questioned by the Metropolitan Police following allegations of match-fixing, will fly home today without charge, officers say. Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir have agreed to return to the UK to assist the inquiry in "due course", Scotland Yard said. The men were questioned following claims of match-fixing published in the News of the World. The trio, who deny the claims, have reportedly left their London hotel for the airport where they will fly home to Pakistan.