Trio’s future still under a cloud

Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir will travel to London for a meeting with board chairman, Ijaz Butt.

KARACHI: As pressure mounts on the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to exclude the accused trio from upcoming One-Day International and Twenty20 matches, Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir will travel to London today for a meeting with the board chairman, Ijaz Butt. It is also possible that the trio will be called in for questioning by the Scotland Yard while in London but these reports were not confirmed by the British police or the Pakistan team management.

The move comes in the wake of reports that Mazhar Majeed, the alleged bookmaker at the centre of the spot-fixing controversy, was arrested by Customs officials following his release on bail by the Scotland Yard. Two more arrests were made by the HM Revenue and Customs officials as part of the investigation into money laundering but all three were later released on bail.

The Pakistan team reached Taunton on Tuesday from London following uncertainty and unrest in the camp due to the ongoing investigations. While the rest of the team proceeded with their training session in the afternoon as planned, Salman, Asif and Aamir were asked to remain in the hotel.

“Salman, Asif and Aamir will be travelling to London today for a meeting with the chairman,” Pakistan team’s associate manager Shafqat Rana told The Express Tribune. “They will be taking part in the tour match that we have on Thursday and that is why we omitted them from the training session today. Also, the media contingent outside the hotel would have bombarded them with questions and with the investigations ongoing, we found it best to confine them to the hotel.”

Kamran Akmal, the fourth Pakistani player accused in the case, was however cleared of any fixing charges and took part in the training session held at the Somerset County ground in Taunton. It is believed that barring any last-minute plans, the trio will join the rest of the squad in Cardiff prior to Pakistan’s first Twenty20 against England on Sunday, a move that has annoyed the England team.

“Speaking on behalf of the England team we can say we think it would be preferable if those individuals who are named do not play in the forthcoming series,” Professional Cricketers Association boss Angus Porter told the BBC yesterday.

While the future of the series still hangs in the balance – despite England naming their squads last night – the International Cricket Council Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat will meet the PCB chairman in London today. The ICC has refused to comment on the allegations but has assured strict action against anyone found guilty of wrongdoings.

Malik hints at ‘conspiracy’

Interior Minister Rehman Malik hinted on Tuesday that spot-fixing allegations could have been cooked up as part of a conspiracy.

However, he also told reporters that if wrongdoing was proven the players would be dealt with harshly.

“We know that there have been many conspiracies against Pakistan cricket in the past and perhaps there will also be in the future. We are keeping this in mind.” (with additional input from aFP)

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2010.