5:41pm Thursday 2nd September 2010
Pakistan’s top diplomat in Britain claimed tonight that the three cricketers facing match-fixing allegations were “set up”.
Test captain Salman Butt and fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer today insisted they were innocent as they withdrew from the remaining games in their team’s tour of England.
Wajid Hasan, the Pakistani High Commissioner in London, said he believed the trio played no part in an alleged plot to bowl no-balls to order during Pakistan’s fourth Test defeat at Lord’s.
He went on to cast doubt on video evidence about the allegations released by the News of the World.
In an interview on BBC News, he said: “We are not seeing on the video what the date or what the time is. Do you have answers to these questions?
”The video wasn’t timed or dated. It could have been dated before the match or after the match, or at a different time.”
Asked if he thought the three players had been “set up”, Mr Hasan said: “Yes, I would say that.”
The News of the World dismissed the High Commissioner’s claims as “ludicrous”, adding in a statement: “Watch this space.”
It is understood that the paper is planning to publish further revelations this weekend.
The three players were questioned by police at the weekend at their London hotel and had their mobile phones confiscated.
Scotland Yard refused to comment on reports that detectives will interview them again tomorrow.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “We are not discussing who we have spoken to or may wish to speak to in connection with this investigation.”
Butt, Asif and Aamer will miss Pakistan’s remaining games against England in the current tour, beginning with the first of two Twenty20 matches on Sunday, followed by five one-day internationals.
The trio held meetings in London today with Mr Hasan and Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt.
The News of the World reported on Sunday that journalists posing as Far Eastern businessmen paid a middleman £150,000 to arrange for Pakistan players to deliberately bowl no-balls in last week’s fourth Test.
Following the report, Mazhar Majeed, 35, a cricket agent who also owns Croydon Athletic Football Club, was arrested by Scotland Yard detectives and later released on police bail.
After interviewing Butt, Asif and Aamer today, Mr Hasan said they would fight to clear their names.
Speaking outside Pakistan’s High Commission in central London, he said: “The three players have said that they are extremely disturbed with what has happened in the past week, especially with regard to their alleged involvement in the crime.
”They mentioned that they are entirely innocent in the whole episode and shall defend their innocence as such.
”They further maintain that, on account of the mental torture which has deeply affected them, they are not in the right frame of mind to play the remaining matches.
”Therefore they have requested the Pakistan Cricket Board not to consider them for the remaining matches.”
He added: “They are here, they are not running away. They are innocent and they are defending their innocence, and they can’t run away like that.”
Mr Hasan confirmed that the three cricketers’ passports were being held by their team manager, Yawar Saeed.
Mr Saeed told reporters in Taunton, where Pakistan played Somerset today, that the trio had not been suspended but three replacement players would fly out to Britain for the one-day internationals.
England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke welcomed this announcement.
He said: “We look forward to an extremely competitive series full of excellent cricket and we can assure cricket fans across the country that the matches will be played in the most competitive spirit, long associated with contests between England and Pakistan.”
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