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Pakistan betting scam controversy timeline

Timeline of the Pakistan cricket betting scam controversy:

August 29

· The News of the World says it paid 150,000 pounds (230,000 dollars) to a middle man in return for details about the timing of three no-balls in Pakistan’s fourth Test against England at Lord’s.

· The report says Pakistan bowlers, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif, delivered the blatant no-balls at the exact points in the match agreed with the alleged fixer.

· The bowlers and Test captain Salman Butt are interviewed by Scotland Yard detectives and police take away their mobile phones.

· News of the World publishes photograph of the alleged middle man, Mazhar Majeed, counting wads of banknotes given to him by a reporter posing as a front man for a betting syndicate. Majeed is later bailed.

August 30

· International Cricket Council (ICC) officials meet counterparts from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in London to discuss the controversy.

· There are suggestions that Butt, Aamer and Asif could be withdrawn from the Pakistan team to ensure that the two Twenty20 internationals in Cardiff on Sunday and Tuesday go ahead.

· It emerges that another game in the spotlight following the News of the World’s allegations is January’s second Test between Pakistan and Australia in Sydney, in which Australia overcame a 206-run first innings deficit to win when Pakistan collapsed. Majeed tells the newspaper he earned more than 830,000 pounds for a betting syndicate by rigging the match.

· A defiant Butt insists he will not resign the Test team captaincy.

August 31

· PCB says it will not suspend its players while investigations continue.

· Pakistan’s interior minister Rehman Malik hints accusations could have been cooked up as part of a conspiracy against the national side.

· Butt, Aamer and Asif summoned to a meeting with the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Ijaz Butt, and the Pakistan high commissioner, Wajid Shamsul Hasan in London.

· The rest of the team remain in Taunton where they are preparing for a practice match against English county Somerset on Thursday.

September 1

· Butt, Aamer and Asif leave Taunton for London; Butt shakes his head when asked by a reporter if he is “guilty”.

· Pakistan’s one-day captain Shahid Afridi says he is battling to maintain his beleaguered squad’s morale as they prepare for Thursday’s match.

September 2

· Tour manager Yawar Saeed says Butt, Aamer and Asif have been dropped from the Twenty20 games.

· The three players vow to clear their names, Hasan tells reporters, but adds that they are pulling out of the tour because of the “mental torture” of the scandal.

· ICC charges Butt, Aamer and Asif with various offences under its anti-corruption code. All three are provisionally suspended.

September 3

· British police question the three players.

· Ronnie Flanagan, chairman of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, tells reporters: “The conclusion that we have come to is that there is a really arguable case to answer.”

· Hasan says ICC wrong to suspend the players while police investigation ongoing. He has previously suggested the trio might have been set up.

September 4

· Afridi apologises for the ‘spot-fixing’ row, saying: “On behalf of these boys — I know they are not in this series — I want to say sorry to all cricket lovers and all the cricketing nations.”

· News of the World claims a fourth Pakistan player is being probed over the claims, but declines to name him for “legal reasons”.