LONDON (Agencies) – Pakistan’s cricket team were embroiled in an alleged betting scam Sunday after British police arrested a man on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers during a Test match against England.
The News of the World newspaper said it paid 150,000 pounds (230,000 dollars, 185,000 euros) to a middle man in return for details about the timing of three no-balls in the match, which ended Sunday in victory for England.
The report said two Pakistan bowlers, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif, delivered the blatant no-balls at the exact points in the match agreed with the alleged fixer.
The Pakistan team manager said the bowlers and captain Salman Butt had been interviewed by Scotland Yard detectives about the allegations and police took away their mobile phones.
Yawar confirmed that phones had been removed. “Telephones yes, only these three gentlemen.
The police have taken their mobile phones away,” he said. “The skipper, and Asif and the third one was Mohammed Amir”.
The newspaper published a photograph of the alleged middle man, Mazhar Majeed, counting wads of banknotes given to him by a reporter posing as a front man for a betting syndicate.
A spokesman for London’s Metropolitan Police told AFP: “Following information received from the News of the World we have arrested a 35-year-old man on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers.”
The match, the fourth and final Test between the two countries, resumed as normal at LordÂ’s on Sunday with Pakistan collapsing to defeat with the rapid loss of six wickets to give England victory in the four-match series.
Unusually, the post-match presentation ceremony did not take place on the outfield but was moved inside to the Long Room of the LordÂ’s pavilion.
During the ceremony, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Giles Clarke refused to shake AamerÂ’s hand when presenting him with the Pakistan Man of the Series award.
The International Cricket Council stressed that no players or team officials had been arrested over the fixing claims.
A defiant Butt insisted he would not resign the Test team captaincy over the claims.
“Anybody can stand out and say anything about you, that doesn’t make them true,” he said.
The latest allegations will heap further suspicion on cricket in Pakistan, which is already at a low ebb.
Pakistan have been unable to play matches at home since a terror attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in March last year effectively turned the country into a ‘no-go area’ for international cricket.
The team has been dogged by ‘fixing’ allegations since the 1990s and also embroiled in ball-tampering.