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Pakistani cricket team accused of throwing matches
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The Associated Press
Date: Sun. Sep. 5 2010 12:31 PM ET
CARDIFF, Wales Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed insisted his team will play the Twenty20 international against England on Sunday despite fresh allegations of corruption involving his players.
"We will go to the ground as planned," Saeed told The Associated Press on Sunday.
The ECB also confirmed that the game will go ahead.
The News of the World newspaper's Sunday edition quoted opening batsman Yasir Hameed as saying Pakistan players have been throwing matches.
"They were doing it in almost every match," Yasir was quoted as saying. "God knows what they were up to. Scotland Yard was after them for ages.
"It makes me angry because I'm playing my best and they are trying to lose."
The newspaper posted a video of the interview on its website.
The allegations follow the suspension by the International Cricket Council of Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir and Test captain Salman Butt under the sport's anti-corruption code. They were accused of conspiring with bookmakers to deliberately bowl no-balls during the fourth test against England.
The News of the World also quoted Yasir as saying he been offered up to 150,000 pounds (C$240,700) to throw a match. If Yasir did not report the approach, he could be charged by the International Cricket Council under its anti-corruption code.
The newspaper said the trio face a total of 23 charges from the ICC, and alleged that at least 10,000 pounds (C$16,000) of marked bank notes it handed to a middleman in exchange for the no-balls has been recovered from Butt's locker.
The tabloid also claimed that a fourth Pakistan player is being investigated by the ICC, but that he cannot be named for legal reasons.
The ICC said it had no comment on the report.
The lawyers representing the three Pakistan players are unaware of the police wishing to speak to a fourth player.
Yasir was quoted by a private television channel in Pakistan -- Dawn News -- denying the claims, which the News of the World says he made to an undercover reporter.
"I have not given any interview," Dawn News quoted Yasir as saying. "All the claims of newspapers are false. I can't think of giving any statement like this one. Whatever the newspaper has written, it's their own.
"I have not alleged any Pakistan player of match fixing."
The ICC is refusing to discuss the case or detail the charges, which followed a sting operation detailed in last week's News of the World that alleged that a middleman accepted payment in exchange for the deliberate no-balls in the match at Lord's -- which Pakistan lost by an innings and 225 runs for its worst ever test defeat.
The ICC has called it the biggest fixing scandal to hit cricket for a decade.
The captain of Pakistan's limited overs teams has apologized to cricket fans for the controversy.
Shahid Afridi said Saturday that the players in the squad for the remaining two Twenty20 and five one-day matches against England were upset by the allegations.
"On behalf of these boys -- I know they're not in this series -- I want to say sorry to all cricket lovers and all cricketing nations," Afridi said.
"It's very bad news," Afridi said ahead of Sunday's first Twenty20 in Cardiff. "It's a big challenge for me as captain but we're all ready. The coach and I are not talking about the issue -- we are here to play cricket."
Butt, Asif and Amir were released without criminal charge after being questioned by London police on Friday but could be banned from cricket for life if found guilty.
The News of the World also claimed in its Sunday edition that it had proof that Pakistan High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan was mistaken in his assertion that the paper recorded Majeed discussing the timing of the no-balls after they were bowled on Aug. 26.
The newspaper says it has timed evidence from emails, text messages, phone records, videos and receipts.
Hasan, Pakistan's top diplomat in Britain, has accused the ICC of bias for banning the players while police are still looking into the case.
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I think he was pushed to take matters into his own hands. I have a teenage son and if he was involved with a drug dealer I would be furious and try anything to save him like this father did for his daughter. Why do police often say they can't do anything until it's too late? Whether it be a drug dealer or an abusive spouse, the police can't seem to do anything until something really bad happens. In this case they could have raided the drug dealers home and arrested him. The whole town knew what was going on in that house but yet the police chose to do nothing. Release this man and give him a medal for doing the right thing by his daughter. I can't wait to see the episode on W5, I will certainly be watching this one.
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