Tainted Pakistan trio may have to fend for itself

KARACHI - Pakistan’s tainted trio finds itself in deeper trouble following Pakistan Cricket Boards (PCB) decision to suspend their central contracts because of their involvement in a spot-fixing scandal.

Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif had their central contracts suspended by the PCB with the boards legal adviser, Tafazzul Rizvi saying it was a legal requirement as “they are unable to perform services for Pakistan due to suspensions”.

Currently engaged in an expensive legal battle with the International Cricket Council (ICC), the players could go bankrupt soon as the PCB said it would not help them in their bid to clear their names, sources close to the trio told IANS Thursday.

In fact, Mohammad Asif claimed Thursday the board is yet to pay him as well as Butt and Aamer their match fees and other dues dating back to this year’s World Twenty20 Championship in the Caribbean.

“Its understandable if they (PCB) block our match fees for the tour of England but why are they not releasing our dues for events like the Twenty20 World Cup which was held more than six months ago,” said Asif.

The fast bowler has demanded that the PCB should clear the player’ dues as soon as possible. All the three players have hired top lawyers to fight their case and are making all out efforts to revive their international careers.

On Sep 2, ICC suspended the three players after a British tabloid accused them of accepting money for bowling deliberate no-balls in the fourth and final Test against England at Lord’s.

The ICC’s code of conduct commission rejected appeals by Butt and Amir against their suspensions in Dubai last Sunday, with the next stage being a hearing by the anti-corruption tribunal into details of the fixing case.