Worried PCB’s huddle with team, Pak envoy to UK to prepare for next NOTW salvo

LAHORE - The Pakistan Cricket Board officials convened a detailed meeting with the team members and the country’s envoy to UK before arriving back from England, after reports of a fourth player being investigated for spot-fixing scandal surfaced.

“Pakistan’s High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan is also involved in the meeting as is the chairman of the board Ijaz Butt,” The Nation quoted a source, as saying.

The disclosure about a fourth player being under the scanner came to the fore when the team was preparing for the Twenty20 against England at Cardiff, throwing the entire team under huge stress.

Former Test opener Yasir Hameed’s acknowledgement to a tabloid that his team-mates fixed “almost every game,” increased the already brewing tension in the team and the PCB.

However, Hameed said that he was “deeply disturbed because I never gave any interview to this newspaper and I never said such things,” and added that he was trying to speak and clarify his stance to the Pakistan team and the board officials but was disappointed that the damage had already been done.

Meanwhile, in a statement, News Of The World declared that it would publish a special 18-pages edition on Sunday with transcripts, CCTV footage, text messages and photographs that would confirm the involvement of Pakistani players in match-fixing scandal.

The meeting was being held in view of the revelations to be made on Sunday by the newspaper and the effect they would have on Pakistan cricket, sources in the team said.

Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed declined to speak on the issue, saying that he was attending a meeting.

Pakistani Test skipper Salman Butt and fast bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif have been implicated in spot-fixing allegations, but have maintained innocence despite evidence against them. The ICC has banned the three Pakistani players until the matter is resolved. (ANI)