CARDIFF ( Wales): Pakistan’s cricketers were being investigated by the ICC for fixing in a one-day series even before their contentious fourth Test against England last month.

The International Cricket Council suspended three players last week after charging them under its anti-corruption code but had already written to two players to ask for telephone records as part of an investigation into possible contact with bookmakers.

Britain’s newspapers widely reported that Test captain Salman Butt and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal were the players contacted.

Butt is one of three players suspended last week for the ICC on suspicion of fixing by arranging for deliberate no-balls to be bowled against England during the fourth Test at Lord’s.

Pakistan plays England in the teams’ second Twenty20 in Cardiff on Tuesday.

“There will be absolutely no comment,” team manager Yawar Saeed said when asked about the investigation. “I am not going to say anything on the allegations. They are there and we are here, getting on with our jobs on the tour.”

A phone call to Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ejaz Butt went unanswered.

Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer were suspended Thursday following a scandal that came to light nine days ago following an undercover sting operation by the News of the World newspaper.

All three could face life bans, if found guilty. The suspensions relate only to the fourth Test against England, which began August 26.

DURBAN: Cricketers must take more responsibility for their actions to prevent the spread of corruption, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said on Tuesday.

He was speaking in the light of the suspension last week of Pakistan players Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif following spot-fixing allegations levelled against them in Britain’s News of the World newspaper.

“It is crucial to keep the game clean,” Dhoni told a news conference in Durban.

“Personally I think it is up to the individual. You don’t need someone to guide you or restrict you. If you are playing for, or representing, your country you should feel pride in doing that.”

In the wake of the allegations against the Pakistan trio the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) has come under fire for not doing enough to prevent the spread of corruption in cricket.

But Dhoni, who is in South Africa with the Chennai Super Kings to play in the Champions League Twenty20 which starts on Friday, believes that the ACSU is doing a decent job.

“As far as the corruption unit and their functioning are concerned I think that they are doing a good job,” he said, adding that if the ACSU was given more power it could infringe on players’ human rights.

“I think that if they (ACSU) become stricter they will start intruding on the privacy of players.”

JOHANNESBURG: With the IPL 4 auction set for November, the upcoming Champions League Twenty20 comes as a big platform for players to impress upon the IPL teams and earn a fat contract with one of the 10 franchises, feel international cricketers.

The three-year contracts of IPL players have ended after the successful completion of third edition of the high-profile T20 league and buoyed by the addition of two new franchises – Kochi and Pune – cricketers feel it is time to rake in some bounty by consistent performances in the Champions League Twenty20 which starts at the Wanderers on Friday.

“The tournament is a great opportunity for each and every individual to showcase their potential and come to the notice of IPL teams.

“I consider it is a very very crucial tournament because it gave me my big break in IPL,” said big-hitting West Indian all-rounder Kieron Pollard, who shot to limelight playing for Trinidad and Tobago in the inaugural CLT20 in India.

“Each and every cricketer will be now eyeing the IPL 4 auctions,” said Pollard, who played for Mumbai Indians in the IPL 3.

On personal and team’s front, Pollard is looking to put up consistent performances for Mumbai Indians in the upcoming event.

“It’s (CLT20) gonna be great. It is my first time in South Africa and I am looking forward to the challenges. We played good cricket throughout the tournament in last IPL but it was disappointing to lose the final.

“The conditions here are different. It is more like Australia but being an international cricketer you need to play in all sorts of environment,” Pollard added.

South African middle-order batsman JP Duminy too agreed with his Mumbai Indians teammate and said CLT20 is a good opportunity for players to catch the eyes of IPL franchises.

“Definitely, I think so because it is the right time to put your name on the map. A lot of people will be watching these performances and the players will be geared up to perform here and earn big contracts,” said the left-hander.

However, temperamental India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh thinks otherwise and feels consistency should be the only criteria to judge a player’s potential.

“According to me that’s a wrong perception. One or two tournaments are not enough to judge a player’s capabilities. You need to see his past performances and future abilities. He should have done well over a period of time,” the 30-year-old tweaker, who will also represent Mumbai Indians in the second Champions League T20, said.

The CLT20 starts with Mumbai Indians taking on local side Highveld Lions in the opening match.

CARDIFF: Pakistan one-day captain Shahid Afridi insisted on Monday his players had been educated by officials over the dangers of corruption as the ’spot-fixing’ row engulfing his side rumbled on.

Some pundits have questioned whether Pakistan’s players have been made properly aware of the risks of possible corruption.

But Afridi, speaking to reporters at Sophia Gardens here on Monday ahead of the second Twenty20 international at the ground on Tuesday, said: “The people are coming from the ICC ( International Cricket Council) and they are always talking about these things.

“If you have any problems, you definitely go straight to the (team) manager and talk to him.

“I think we all know about these things so I think the people from ICC are doing their work.”

Pakistan Test captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif have been suspended from the international game after Britain’s News of the World tabloid allegedly caught Mazhar Majeed, a London-based businessman, organising no-balls to order during last month’s Lord’s Test against England.

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat has been among those, including former England captain Michael Atherton, who have suggested the 18-year-old Aamer’s age should be taken into consideration if the charges against him were proved.

But Pakistan associate manager Shafqat Rana ruled out youth as a defence.

“I think it should be the same with everybody, if he breaks the law,” Rana, sat alongside Afridi, said.

“It (Aamer’s age) doesn’t matter.”

Aamer’s fellow seamer Asif once played alongside Stuart Broad at English county side Leicestershire.

England quick Broad, speaking earlier here on Monday. said he was such an admirer of Asif he’d planned to speak to him ahead of England’s defence of the Ashes later this year about how to bowl in Australia.

But asked if he sympathised with the situation the Pakistan team found themselves in as a result of the allegations, Broad replied: “Sympathy? No.

“At the end of the day as cricketers you’ve got one job and that’s to perform on the pitch.

“There’s always distractions in international cricket, probably more than most this week,” said Broad, a member of the England side that beat Pakistan by five wickets in Sunday’s first Twenty20 international here.

“But at the end of the day that’s not our problem. We’ve just got to go out there and try to win.”

Turning to Asif, Broad added: “It’s a difficult position and hard to comment on. He’s a lovely fellow, I got on really well with him and he’s obviously a world-class bowler.

“He talked about getting close to the stumps and bowling wicket to wicket. He was fantastic to learn from.

“Throughout this series I was saying to him, ‘At the end of this series I would like to have a chat with you about Australia,’ because he got a six-for (six for 41) in Sydney (in January). But with him being left out of the squad now, it’s probably not going to happen.”

Broad, 24, said players were well informed about the dangers of ‘fixing’.

“We’re very educated on this sort of anti-corruption stuff.

“I don’t think any player could ever have an excuse — ‘I didn’t know’, or ‘We weren’t educated’,” insisted Broad, the son of match referee and former England opening batsman Chris.

“The amount of books I’ve got from the ICC at home, full of information — there’s certainly no excuse as players.”

NEW DELHI: Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has topped the chart for celebrity endorsements on television during the first six months of this year, leaving behind not only Shah Rukh Khan and Sachin Tendulkar, but also the gorgeous ladies of the silver screen.

During the January to June period, while Dhoni endorsed brands for 24 companies on TV, Shah Rukh and Sachin were seen promoting the products of 16 and 15 firms, respectively, according to the Adex survey of TAM Media Research.

Interestingly, Dhoni also left behind many Bollywood actresses, who enjoyed a combined 45 per cent share of the total celebrity endorsements on TV between January and June.

Kareena Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Kajol and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan were some of the most popular Bollywood beauties, who were seen frequently endorsing products in TV advertisements.

According to the survey, Bollywood actors and sports persons accounted for 42 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, of the total celebrity advertisements on TV.

During the period, Dhoni appeared for a host of brands, including Reebok, Aircel, Godrej and TVS.

In July, he had signed a Rs 210 crore deal with Rhiti Sports Management and Mindscapes to manage his long list of endorsements and brand associations for two years.

The deal, the richest in Indian cricket history, surpassed batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar’s estimated Rs 180 crore, three-year contract with sports management firm Iconix in 2006.

As per the Adex survey, the top five categories endorsed the most by celebrities included aerated soft drinks, cellular phone services, toilet soaps and shampoos.

The brands which were advertised the most by celebrities were Lux Soap, Pepsi, Airtel, Panasonic and Coca Cola, it said.

MELBOURNE: If involvement of any player in spot-fixing is established, they will be banned but Pakistan as a cricket team will not be punished, the International Cricket Council has said.

ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat said players act as individuals so the entire team or the national cricket board cannot be punished for what certain players do.

“We must separate individual players, their misdemeanour or not. We must separate them from the Pakistan team and Pakistan board. If individuals have transgressed in any way, we deal with individuals.

“As far as Pakistan, and the system in Pakistan is concerned, nothing has changed in our view … to play international cricket,” Lorgat said.

Lorgat said the world governing body would not tolerate corruption in the game and handing life bans to guilty was an option for them.

“I would not rule out any sort of punishment. It is dependent on what the findings are. I would not like to predetermine their guilt nor predetermine what sanctions are appropriate, but we would not tolerate any kind of corruption in this sport. Corruption is a dangerous thing, any form of it,” Lorgat was quoted as saying by ‘Daily Telegraph’

Lorgat said they can take action against players but cannot dictate terms to national cricket boards.

“Don’t forget the governance structure we have: the Pakistan Cricket Board, like every other member board, is autonomous. They have the responsibility to look after their affairs.

“Unless they request our assistance in a direct fashion to get involved, we cannot go there and do what you are suggesting. We can offer, but it must be accepted. We cannot demand,” he said.

The suspended trio — Test captain Salman Butt, pacers Mohammed Asif and Mohammad Aamer — have admitted that they had taken money from alleged bookie Mazhar Majeed but said it belonged to their sponsorship deals.

They also claimed they did not know that Majeed, who is their agent in UK, was a bookie.

Lorgat said a player’s agent accreditation process might be implemented to weed out the likes of the notorious Majeed.

The suspended players have been charged by the ICC and they have 14 days to respond to those.

British Barrister Michael Beloff, chairman of the ICC’s code of conduct, will form the commission that will hear the case involving suspended trio.

CARDIFF: England captain Paul Collingwood won the toss and elected to field against Pakistan in the first Twenty20 international on Sunday.

This was Pakistan’s first match since Test captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif were suspended by the International Cricket Council after newspaper allegations the trio were involved in a betting scam that saw no-balls deliberately bowled in last week’s fourth Test at Lord’s.

For England, this was their first Twenty20 fixture since they beat Australia in the World Twenty20 final in Barbados in May.

They were without Kevin Pietersen, the man of that tournament, after the batsman was dropped following a run of low scores and told to play county cricket in a bid to regain form ahead of England’s defence of the Ashes in Australia starting in November.

England made two changes to their Twenty20 side with Ravi Bopara replacing Pietersen and Steven Davies coming in for injured opening batsman Michael Lumb.

Rain delayed the scheduled start but this match was still a 20 overs per side contest.

Pietersen made a century for Surrey in a 40-over county match against Sussex at Hove on Saturday.

The 30-year-old moved to Surrey on loan because he has fallen out with his current club Hampshire after announcing he will leave at the end of the season.

Pakistan, last year’s World Twenty20 champions, beat Australia in two Twenty20 internationals in Edgbaston in July after losing to them in the semi-finals of the 2010 World Twenty20 in St Lucia.

The second match of this series takes place in Cardiff on Tuesday.

Teams

England: Craig Kieswetter, Steven Davies (wkt), Ravi Bopara, Paul Collingwood (capt), Eoin Morgan, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, Ryan Sidebottom

Pakistan: Shazaib Hasan, Fawad Alam, Kamran Akmal (wkt), Mohammad Yousuf, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi (capt), Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Shoaib Akhtar, Saeed Ajmal

Umpires: Richard Kettleborough ( ENG) and Nigel Llong (ENG)
TV umpire: Richard Illingworth (ENG)
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)

JOHANNESBURG: Former coach Richard Pybus says Pakistan cricket officialdom is ridden with “nepotism and sycophancy” while the team is always faction ridden and the only way to pull that country out of the rut is to appoint professional and accountable administrators.

“With every regime change, they appoint different people — the chairman of the Board brings in his cronies. Cricket is the number one sport, it holds huge status in people’s minds, and they want to be involved in it,” Pybus said.

“So in the end, you have nepotism and sycophancy, and players end up operating at the behest of whatever regime comes in,” he said in the wake of ’spot-fixing’ scandal that has rocked world cricket.

“There are some professional administrators who do good work, but they are at the mercy of the people above them. They are like corks on the sea. The cronies are not experienced at working in professional sport,” Pybus was quoted as saying by ‘The Star’.

Commenting on the Pakistan side that he was in charge during the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, Pybus said they could not get past the first round because the players were not behind fast bowler Waqar Younis.

“There were a lot of issues behind the scenes. There were lots of groups within the squad. Maybe there were 11 players, but they were never a team. A lot of players had accumulated too much baggage over the years and the tournament turned out to be the end of the road for a few players,” said Pybus.

After Pakistan’s disappointing show in South Africa, Pybus supported the captaincy claims of Younis Khan, who eventually got the opportunity to lead the team last year before being banned by the PCB only to lift it later.

“(Khan is) a straight guy, and if there were any shenanigans going on, he wouldn’t tolerate that,” Pybus said.

“The two biggest challenges facing is to get the team play together as a unit and employing professional administrators who are accountable,” he added.

LONDON: The ICC’s anti-corruption unit has been monitoring the unusual activities of a leading Sri Lankan player after team members alerted their skipper Kumar Sangakkara of his late-night activities with a man believed to be an illegal bookmaker.

Sri Lankan players passed on their concerns to the captain, who followed ICC protocol by contacting the anti-corruption unit. The player has since been investigated by Sri Lankan police, although no charges have been laid, British daily The Guardian reported on Sunday.

However, Sri Lanka Cricket has kept the entire matter away from the public spotlight by concealing the entire police investigation surrounding the player.

The player concerned has been under the ICC’s scanner since the Twenty20 World Cup in England in 2009.

The officials from the ICC’s anti-corruption unit are said to be dismayed at the lack of progress.

“The (anti-corruption unit’s) working is not that of a policing agency or a newspaper. They have no power to arrest or seize, or carry out a sting operation.

“Getting international players to question the honesty of one of their own team-mates is a considerable challenge, but it is essential if the ICC is to root out corruption,” Haroon Lorgat, the ICC’s chief executive, said.

The News of the World, which published its expose into cricket corruption a week ago after a sting operation against the Pakistan players’ agent, Mazhar Majeed, provides further evidence on Sunday to support its allegations.

The newspaper claimed that the Pakistan players face 23 ICC charges between them and that the Metropolitan Police have recovered between 10,000-15,000 pounds of bills marked by the News of the World from Butt’s room.

It also states Butt was warned five times that he must report any irregular dealings.

Yasir Hameed, who was recalled for the final Test at the Lord’s – the Test that was the subject of the British tabloid sting – was quoted as saying: “They were doing it [fixing] in almost every match. God knows what they were up to.”

Hameed, however, denied that he had made the allegations and said he was “deeply disturbed” by them.

ISLAMABAD: The three Pakistani cricketers, accused of an alleged betting scam, have reportedly admitted before police that they received money from the bookie Mazhar Majeed but denied any knowledge of the wrongdoing, saying that the money recovered from them was given on account of sponsorship contracts that they had signed with the different commercial organizations, said legal advisor of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

The players Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Asif and Test captain Salman Butt were interviewed separately on Friday by Scotland Yard investigators at a police station in London.

“All the players have informed the police that the man Mazhar Majeed was their agent, but they had no knowledge about his illegal activities,” the PCB legal advisor Tafazzul Rizvi told private TV channels in Pakistan. He said that the three players also showed a copy of their sponsorship contracts to London police, which they signed with Majeed. The players were later released without any criminal charges.

The Scotland Yard police seized money and mobile phones from the players on last Sunday, investigating any possible link between the bank notes found in their possession and the money handed to Mazhar Majeed as part of the ploy by British tabloid News of the World, which made the allegations. News of the World accused agent Mazhar Majeed of accepting money in exchange for getting fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer to bowl no-balls during the Lord’s Test between England and Pakistan. Majeed, was arrested last weekend by police over the News of the World allegations over money-laundering allegations.

Rizvi said that players all around the world have their agents and it’s not something new. “The players choose their agents on their own and the board has nothing to do with it,” he said, adding that Mazhar had been associated with different Pakistan players as an agent for the last six to seven years.

Test captain Salman Butt, Asif and Aamer were suspended by the International Cricket Council on Thursday. They have two weeks time to decide whether they want to appeal against the suspension.

Rizvi turned down the reports that captain Salman Butt had taken the money from Majeed allegedly to arrange dowry of his sister.

The legal advisor said that the players had gone to the police station voluntarily and that they were not under arrest. He said that the players would extend full cooperation to the police and the ICC, which has charged them under its anti-corruption code and temporarily banned them from playing in any form of cricket.

He said that all the three players were issued separate notices by the ICC and now the players have to fight their appeals on their own.

“The PCB will just monitor what happens at the appeals, but they have to contest it on their own,” Rizvi said.