A MAN has been arrested in connection with an alleged cricket betting scam centred on the current Test between Pakistan and England at Lord’s.
The News of the World claims it gave £150 000 to a middleman who promised to arrange for Pakistan to bowl three “no-balls” during the match.
Scotland Yard said a 35-year-old man is being held on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers.
Pakistan’s manager said team members spoke to police at their hotel.
Earlier, Yawar Saeed told the Associated Press: “I can confirm that we are aware of the allegations and Scotland Yard police are with us now at the hotel and we are helping them with their enquiries.”
He later said he was shocked by the allegations, as were the team members to whom he had spoken
A spokesman for both the England team and England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said he had not heard from Scotland Yard and would not comment on the claims.
The News of the World has alleged that Pakistani players were secretly paid to deliberately bowl “no-balls” during the Test.
The newspaper claimed it was given pre-warning of three separate incidents by the Pakistan team.
It said members of its reporting team posed as Far Eastern businessmen and paid a middleman who told them exactly what would happen in the next day’s play.
The BBC’s Andy Swiss said the allegations involved “very minor, very small details within the match that might seem ridiculously trivial to a lot of people”.
But he added: “That sort of information is worth a huge amount of money in the betting world where you can put bets on the tiniest details within a cricket game”.
He suggested the allegations could affect the sport’s reputation.
“Cricket prides itself on the integrity of its reputation for fair play.
“This is a difficult situation for cricket and there are going to be some uncomfortable questions for the Pakistan team when the match resumes,” he said. (BBC Sport)