Pakistan vs Pakistan over spot-fixing crisis: Report

Karachi:

Pakistan's High Commissioner to Britain has blamed the Cricket Board here for mishandling the spot-fixing issue involving three Pakistani players and keeping the mission diplomats in dark on laws relating to betting scam.

High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan wrote a letter of complaint to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who is also the patron of the PCB, criticising the top management of staying away from the trouble while the way forward was none other than a diplomatic solution.

"The PCB's management has not guided the High Commission at any point and kept the diplomats unaware about the laws of ICC relating to alleged match-fixing," Hasan wrote in his two-page letter.

"The whole cricket board's management stayed away from the trouble while the way forward was none other than a diplomatic solution, which worked and resolved the matter to a large extent," Pakistan's leading English daily 'The Dawn' quoted Hasan as saying.

Pakistan's tour of England has been overshadowed by allegations of a betting scam. The claims, published in a British tabloid, led to the suspension of Pakistan Test captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir by the International Cricket Council.

Hasan also informed the president that the PCB officials accompanying the team squarely failed to maintain discipline.

"Despite the fact that several of the senior PCB officials were accompanying the national squad, they could not maintain discipline," he said.

According to the newspaper, PCB chairman Ijaz Butt, chief operations officer Wasim Bari and several other officials were with the squad when the British media revealed the alleged spot-fixing scandal involving the three cricketers.