London // Cricket's governing body will almost certainly have to suspend Pakistan from all international competition if claims are true that several players were involved in a betting scam, the former head of the International Cricket Council (ICC) predicted yesterday.
As officers from Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency flew to London to investigate allegations that three no balls were bowled to order during the final Test against England last week, former ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said that there was already "fairly compelling evidence" against Pakistan. Mr Speed told ABC radio in Australia that there were provisions within the corruption code of the ICC, which has its headquarters in Dubai, to suspend a whole nation.
If newspaper claims were true that London businessman Mazhar Majeed had accepted £150,000 (Dh855,000) and had arranged for Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif to bowl three no balls at specific times - potentially allowing gamblers to make thousands on the spot-betting markets on the sub-continent and in the Far East - then the ICC would have little option but to suspend Pakistan, Mr Speed said. Imran Khan, Pakistan's legendary all-rounder and now a politician, yesterday told The National that, if true, the claims would be "very damaging".
He added: "Some of the best players will be lost. All the Pakistani cricket supporters, when Pakistan loses a match, will now question if it was a general loss or if it was fixed. "But these are still allegations that are yet to be proven. We haven't yet heard from the other side." In an interview with the BBC, Mr Khan added: "If these allegations are true, it is a big blow. It's probably the biggest blow to Pakistan cricket.
"If these allegations are true, which we don't know as yet because these are allegations, then there should be exemplary punishment so that future generations should think that crime doesn't pay." Majeed, 35, was released early yesterday on police bail after being arrested by Scotland Yard detectives on suspicion of conspiring to defraud bookmakers. Sir Ronnie Flanagan, a special adviser to the UAE's Ministry of Justice and head of the ICC's anti-corruption and security unit (ACSU), will head the organisation's inquiry into the claims made in the British newspaper, the News of the World.
But the ICC will take no action until the police investigations are complete and reports have been received from the English and Pakistani cricket authorities, Sharad Pawar, the council's president said in Mumbai yesterday. "If, unfortunately, there is a truth [in the allegations] then ruthless actions will be taken," Mr Pawar added. Amir, Asif, captain Salman Butt and wicket keeper Kamran Akmal were all interviewed by detectives about the alleged scam on Sunday. The two bowlers and the captain also had their mobile phones confiscated.
According to a report on the normally well-informed website, cricinfo, yesterday, several of Pakistan's players, including Butt and Akmal, had been monitored by the ACSU for some time. Mazhar Majeed, who acts as an agent for some of the Pakistani team, was also reported to be on the unit's "watch list". "He has been under the scanner for some time," a source close to the Pakistani team was quoted as saying. "There are a number of Pakistan players that have been under the ACSU scanner for a while now."
Earlier this year, ICC investigators were also ordered to inquire into events surrounding Pakistan's Test series in Australia when the team lost every match including the second Test in Sydney when, at one stage, they seemed in an unassailable position. There has been such outrage over the latest allegations that it has produced calls for Pakistan's remaining matches in England, including two Twenty20 games and five one-day internationals, to be abandoned. However, team officials in England said that they expected the remaining matches to go ahead as scheduled.
Javed Miandad, Pakistan's greatest batsman who is now director general of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), said that he expects the team to fulfil the remaining fixtures but suggested that every player in the Test team should be stood down and the team management replaced, adding he was prepared to fly to England to coach a new team. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has asked the PCB for a preliminary report into the allegations, while Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani said that "our heads are bowed in shame" over the scandal.
@Email:dsapsted@thenational.ae * Additional reporting by Suryatapa Bhattacharya