Cricketers jailed over spot fixing

Salman Butt, his former team-mates and their
agent have all been handed jail terms

A London court has handed out jail terms to the three players and their agent found guilty in the spot-fixing case, drawing the curtains on one of cricket's most sordid and shameful sagas. Salman Butt, the former Pakistan captain, has been sentenced to two years and six months; Mohammad Asif has got a one-year jail sentence and his fellow fast bowler Mohammad Amir six months. Mazhar Majeed, the players' agent, has been sentenced to two years and eight months.

They will serve half the time in custody and then be released on licence, with conditions which, if broken, would see them back in detention for the remainder of their term.

The four men had been charged with conspiracy to accept corrupt payments, and conspiracy to cheat in regard to the Lord's Test against England in August 2010, when the three pre-determined no-balls were bowled - two by Amir and one by Asif, orchestrated by Butt and arranged by Majeed. While Amir and Majeed had pleaded guilty before the trial began, Butt and Asif denied the charges and were found guilty by a jury on Tuesday.

The sentences were handed down in Southwark Crown Court on Thursday morning - the 22nd day of the trial - by Justice Cooke, who prefaced the quantum of punishment with some stinging remarks on the four convicted men and a sobering reminder on the legacy of their actions on the sport itself. He also made clear to Majeed and Amir that their sentences had been reduced - from four years and nine months, respectively - because they had pleaded guilty, and told all the players that the bans imposed by the ICC had also had a mitigating effect.

The incarceration began immediately, with the players - who had all come to court with bags - driven away in prison vans after leaving a courtroom packed beyond capacity. Amir will not be sent to jail but to a young offenders' detention centre.

In the aftermath of the sentencing process, while TV crews hovered outside the courthouse, the one main area of debate was what would happen with regards to appeals. Butt's solicitor Paul Harris confirmed on the entrance steps of the courthouse that his team would be lodging an appeal "in the next 24 hours".

Amir's team met with the judge behind closed doors immediately, and grounds for appeal were rejected then, which is apparently normal practice as the sentencing judge is hardly going to admit his punishment was incorrect minutes after meting it out. They are, though, awaiting further clearance, probably in the next 24 hours, which will allow them to lodge an appeal.

Majeed and Asif's legal representatives are yet to announce appeal plans though these are expected soon. There is no suggestion that any of the quartet are seeking bail, while awaiting appeals.

The PCB called it a "sad day" for Pakistan cricket. "Instead of having pride in playing for their country, these players chose to disappoint their supporters, damage the image of their country and bring the noble game of cricket into disrepute. There is little sympathy in Pakistan for the sorry pass they have come to."

In Lahore, the families of the convicted players were stunned by the sentences. Amir's father said the Pakistan government should have helped his son. His brother Saleem said: "He is a kid, he can't understand things. These six months are a lot for a boy who is immature."

Butt's father Zulfiqar was more aggressive, saying his son was innocent. "Our own friends conspired against us," he said. "You can check our bank balance, we haven't even been able to build our own house."

The judge began the day's proceedings proceedings with his summation of the case of each of the four found guilty, reading out their sentences one at a time, and his initial words suggested jail terms for all four guilty.

"Now, when people look back at a surprising event in a game or a surprising result or ever in the future there are surprising results, followers of the game who have paid to watch cricket or who have watched cricket on TV will wonder whether there has been a fix or what they have watched was natural."

Cooke had harsh words for Butt, whom he called "the orchestrator of these matters...you had to be to make sure these two bowlers were bowling at the time of the fix." Butt's leadership status, he said, made him more culpable than his bowlers.

He specifically mentioned Butt's role in involving Amir in the corruption. "An 18 year old from a poverty stricken village background, very different to your own privileged one, who, whilst a very talented bowler, would be inclined to do what his senior players and particularly his captain told him, especially when told there was money in it for him and this was part of the common culture. For an impressionable youngster, not long in the team to stand out against the blandishments of his captain would have been hard."

To Asif he said: "Whilst no money was found in your possession, it's clear that you conspired to bowl a no-ball. There's no evidence on your part of prior fixing but it's hard to see that this could have been an isolated incident."

For Amir there was praise for accepting his guilt and a re-assertion of Butt's influence on Amir but a refusal to accept the basis of his plea, that his only involvement in spot fixing was at Lord's on August 26 and 27 and that he only became involved as a result of pressure and threats to his career.

In this regard he referred to evidence, in the shape of texts and telephone calls with a Pakistani number, of Amir's involvement in discussions about fixing brackets at The Oval during the period of the indictment, though there was no evidence that such fixing actually occurred. That discussion, Justice Cooke noted, did not relate to Majeed.

Butt, Asif found guilty on both charges

Salman Butt: guilty

The jury in the spot-fixing trial has found Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif guilty, by a unanimous verdict, on the charge of 'conspiracy to cheat' and guilty by a 10-2 majority decision on the charge of 'conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments'.

The sentences will be pronounced by the judge, Justice Cooke, on Wednesday and Thursday; both players will remain on bail until then. The convictions - reached by the jury of the Southwark Crown Court in London after 16 hours and 56 minutes of debate - carry jail terms - a maximum prison sentence for the acceptance of corrupt payments is seven years in jail, while 'conspiracy to cheat' carries a maximum two-year sentence.

On a historic day for cricket, the world also learnt that Mohammad Amir, the teenage Pakistani fast bowler, had pleaded guilty to the same two charges before the trial began; he will now be given a "Newton Hearing" to decide the quantum of punishment, during which there will be no jury officially present, although they have been given permission to sit in and watch if they wish.

It also emerged that the ACSU was set to investigate more matches on Pakistan's tour of England in 2010, when the incidents central to this case took place.

This particular case focussed on the Lord's Test in August 2010, when Butt and Asif conspired with Majeed, Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-determined no-balls during England's innings. They were exposed by the now defunct British tabloid the News of the World in an undercover sting operation. Majeed was filmed revealing when no-balls would be delivered by the bowlers, footage which was played to the jury early in the trial.

The verdicts were handed in almost four weeks after the trial started, on October 4. Butt, wearing a velvet jacket and shirt without a tie, showed no emotion as the verdicts were read out and stared at the jury stony-faced. An hour earlier, in a bitter twist of fate, his wife Gul Hassan was understood to have given birth to a second son back in Pakistan. Asif, wearing a grey winter coat in the dock, was equally unmoved and neither player said a word or made any obvious facial expression.

The jury were unable to reach a verdict on the "accepting corrupt payments" charge against Asif, and Justice Cooke immediately retired them to deliberate some more in case they could reach a verdict on that fourth charge, which they did after more than three hours.

The unambiguous nature of the verdict was welcomed by the Metropolitan Police. "All I want to say that this is cheating pure and simple," said Detective Chief Superintendent Matt Horne. "They let down everyone that bought a ticket and they let down children when they were role models to those very children who are playing such a special game. I think we all look forward to this game being played in its truest spirit as we go forward from these types of issues. I also acknowledge the role that investigative journalism has played in this case."

Sally Walsh, Senior Lawyer in the Special Crime and Counter-Terrorism Division of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif deliberately and knowingly perverted the course of a cricket match for financial gain... This prosecution shows that match fixing is not just unsportsmanlike but is a serious criminal act.

"People who had paid good money to see a professional and exciting game of cricket on the famous ground at Lord's had no idea that what they were watching was not a true game but one where part of the game had been pre-determined for cash...the jury has decided after hearing all the evidence that what happened on the crease that day was criminal in the true sense of the word."

The players have already been punished by the ICC after a disciplinary hearing in Doha, Qatar, earlier this year. Each was banned from the sport for at least five years. Butt received a further suspended five-year ban and Asif was handed a further two-year suspended sanction.

Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, said after the London verdicts were announced that the jury's decisions, as well as Mohammad Amir's own guilty plea, will "have no impact" on the length of the suspensions its own tribunal handed out.

All three players have filed appeals against their bans at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Butt has 'been caught' court told

Salman Butt ended a long spell in the witness
box with further tough questioning

Salman Butt, in an often fraught exchange with the prosecution headed by Aftab Jafferjee QC, was told he had "been caught" and was "controlling" the players through the no-balls. Butt's three-day vigil in the witness box ended on Wednesday - the eleventh day of the trial in London - with Butt accepting no part in the alleged spot-fixing.

Former Pakistan captain Butt and fast bowler Mohammad Asif are facing charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, following the Lord's Test last year when they allegedly conspired with agent Mazhar Majeed, teenage pace bowler Mohammad Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-planned no-balls. Butt and Asif deny the charges.

The jury was walked through the detail of the frantic phone traffic between Butt, Majeed, Asif and Amir on the night before the Lord's Test commenced, after Majeed had been caught on a secret camera pocketing £140,000 for pre-planned no-balls to be bowled plus future fixes. A previous amount of £10,000 had already been paid.

There were 20 calls or texts between Butt and Majeed, 25 between Amir and Majeed and four between Butt, Asif and Amir. Some of these calls or text messages were made in the early hours.

"The Lord's fix was on, Mr Butt, in the early hours of the morning and you know it don't you," Jafferjee said.

Butt replied: "No."

"It's all going on behind your back, is it?" Jafferjee asked sarcastically.

Butt: "Yes."

"It's the three of you who are all (planning) the no-balls, Mr Butt," Jafferjee continued. "You are all saying what is going to go on, isn't it?

Butt: "I'm not part of it."

"But we agree, don't we, Mr Butt," Jafferjee went on, "that if Amir and Asif were involved they would have to have spoken to you?"

Butt: "Okay, I'll take that from you." (with a wry grin)

"Everything suggests that Amir was in on the fix, doesn't it Mr Butt?"

Butt: "Yes."

Jafferjee then talked about what he has repeatedly called "the performance" that followed Amir's first no-ball, as Amir checked his spikes, examined the crease and Butt then arrived to sprinkle sawdust on the crease.

Jafferjee: "You would agree it was a performance wouldn't you Mr Butt?"

Butt: "I didn't bring the sawdust with me from the hotel. It is always there on the ground when the weather is damp."

"Yes no-balls are bowled accidentally, sawdust is there out on the ground and batsmen do tap the pitch," Jafferjee hit back. "But what you and Majeed and Amir and Asif did was exploit things what normally happen out on the cricket pitch."

The prosecutor then reminded the jury of the text message that Majeed sent to the undercover News of the World reporter just before the third pre-planned no-ball was delivered. Because Amir was bowling beautifully and eventually reduced England to 47 for 5 in that first innings, Majeed texted to warn the journalist that the captain might tell Amir not to bowl that no-ball now because of the form he was in.

Jafferjee concluded: "He (Majeed) was talking about you because you are in there controlling the players and particularly the youngest player out there - the impressionable Amir, Mr Butt. And you have been caught."

Although Butt defended himself consistently and stoically, he was forced to concede on several occasions that Majeed's fixing-related messages to him were "annoying". Jafferjee pressed him hard on why he never - in the messages before the court anyway - told Majeed that he would not tolerate it anymore.

The night before he allegedly agreed to bat out a maiden at The Oval in the third Test - the night before they eventually won the match - was such an episode that Jafferjee focused on. On how when Majeed called him, unknowingly on speakerphone so the journalist could hear, to say: 'You know the maiden over yeah?' To which Butt went 'Yeah'. Majeed continued, 'Do one more'. It was then that Butt said, 'No mate, just leave it.' Butt did not bat out the maiden. Majeed contacted Butt again on the same subject the following morning, a Saturday, before Butt left for the ground.

Jafferjee continually pressed Butt on why he did not respond more angrily to Majeed. "You were on the verge of a great win and you didn't tell Majeed how annoyed you were by these messages?" Butt reasoned that he was focusing on the game and didn't want to get into an awkward conversation at that time. Butt also said in the subsequent celebration dinner that Majeed attended along with "seven or eight" of the players he never mentioned the messages.

Jafferjee was unimpressed by the answers he was receiving on the issue and at one point said: "You are lying your head off to this jury aren't you Mr Butt?"

Before the day ended, Butt's lawyer Ali Bajwa QC told the court that some Pakistan numbers in the phone records during this time corresponded to calls Butt made to family, friends and former players including Imran Khan, who Butt admitted he would call for advice.

The case continues.

Afridi withdraws retirement

Shahid Afridi is ready to return to international cricket

Shahid Afridi has withdrawn his international retirement and says he is available for selection for Pakistan in the limited-over formats. Afridi had announced a 'conditional' retirement from international cricket in May, after having been stripped of the ODI captaincy, saying he would return if there were changes in the PCB and the team management.

Since then, Waqar Younis has quit as coach of the national team, and Ijaz Butt has been replaced as PCB chairman by Zaka Ashraf. Afridi said he had not really retired but had only said he wouldn't play under the previous (Ijaz Butt-led) board.

"I didn't as such retire," Afridi told reporters in Karachi. "I only said I will not play under the previous board but now people are changed - exactly what I wanted - so I am available for selection for the country."

His return to the team may not be immediate though, as Pakistan's interim chief selector Mohammad Illyas said there would be protocols to follow for the PCB to clear Afridi for selection. "He [Afridi] is good enough to play for Pakistan," Illyas told ESPNcricinfo. "But there are protocols to follow as he needs to have clearance from the PCB before being available for selection. Once the PCB clears him then we will seriously consider his selection for the team.

"I can't say that he is an automatic selection for the team but at the same time we never questioned his abilities as he has played an ample amount of cricket for Pakistan. We know that he still has cricket left in him. For the PCB, he was a retired player and wasn't available for selection. Today I learned through the media that he has withdrawn his retirement but as a selector I will have to check his status."

Pakistan will select their ODI squad for the series against Sri Lanka in the UAE after the second Test.

Afridi made the announcement at the Karachi University Sports ceremony, where he was the chief guest, and was in a pleasant mood. He said he had remained match-fit, and was ready to return under whoever was captain. "I am fit and have continued my individual practice to maintain both the form and fitness required for international cricket. As far as captaincy is concerned I never ran after it and I am ready to play under any captain."

Zaka Ashraf, the new PCB chairman, is a reputed banker in Pakistan, and Afridi said he was looking forward to a professional regime. "I took the decision not to play under the previous board on principle and still stand by it. Now, the management has changed. I learned that the new PCB chairman is very professional and I believe he can handle the PCB's functioning in a similar fashion to the way he has worked in the cooperate sector."

Afridi's issues with the previous board began during Pakistan's tour of the West Indies in May when he was involved in a spat with then coach Waqar Younis. Afridi spoke publicly about the feud, and was charged with a violation of the code of conduct by the PCB. Subsequently, Afridi was replaced as captain in the limited-over formats by Test captain Misbah-ul-haq, with Ijaz Butt saying the board had "solid reasons" to sack Afridi, which he would reveal when the time was right.

Afridi quit international cricket but played for Hampshire in the Friends Life t20 in England. He had maintained throughout that he wanted to play for Pakistan and would make himself available should there be changes in the board.

Court hears million-dollar plan to fix Oval Test

Salman Butt's name was again mentioned
in recordings played to the jury

Mazhar Majeed, the agent of several Pakistan players, was offered US$1 million by an Indian bookmaker to ensure the team lost the third Test at The Oval against England, which they eventually won, a court heard in London on Tuesday.

On the fifth morning of the alleged spot-fixing trial involving former Pakistan captain Salman Butt and fast bowler Mohammad Asif, the jury was played recordings captured by undercover journalist and the prosecution's key witness Mazhar Mahmood, who stood behind a screen in the witness box at Southwark Crown Court.

It was Mahmood's covert sting operation, while working then for the News of the World, which that sparked one of cricket's biggest controversies. Butt and Asif are facing charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, following that Lord's Test in August last year when they allegedly conspired with agent Mazhar Majeed, teenage fast bowler Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-determined no-balls. Butt and Asif deny the charges.

One of the recordings related to the match at The Oval and was actually taken before the fourth day of that match started, when England were 221 for 9 overnight in their second innings. On that Saturday morning they subsequently lost their tenth wicket and Pakistan went on to reach their target of 148 with six wickets down to secure victory.

But that result might have been different had Majeed taken up the huge offer from his unnamed contact in India. The undercover journalist was sitting in the lounge of Majeed's luxurious house in Croydon, while watching footage of Pakistan matches, Majeed was explaining how 'brackets' - a fixed segment in a match - work. Then Majeed called a number in India.

The conversation proceeded as follows, according to the transcript that was played to the court from an audio visual recording:

(Majeed): "Boss, you know what we spoke about last night, what offer can you give me for today's game? Tell me, just give me a figure now, we haven't got long.

(an Asian male) "For the game?

(Majeed) "Yeah exactly.

(Asian) "If you tell me what you want.

(Majeed) "Okay there's a possibility, I'm just telling you now yeah?

(Asian) "Yeah

(Majeed) "But they're talking, they're talking at least 1.2, at least.

(Asian) "1.2, that's 1.2 dollars.

(Majeed) "In dollars yeah.

(Asian) inaudible

(Majeed) "Boss you know how many we've got, you know that they do it, so of course that's not a problem. But you just give me the figure and I'm gonna get back to you. Then I, we haven't got much time.

(Asian) "I give you one.

(Majeed) "One million yeah?

(Asian) "One, one I give you, but has to be a definite game score.

(Majeed) "Okay, okay fine, okay boss I'll call you back. Let me get, give me ten minutes and I'll call you back?

(Asian) "Okay, okay."

After the phone rings off, Majeed said to the undercover journalist: "See what I mean?" He added: "There's big, big money in results boss I tell you. You can see that."

The journalist went on to quiz Majeed at how he would collect his million dollars, to which Majeed explained that he would be given the money in cash from Pakistan, and "some in Dubai"…"some in England".

Journalist Mahmood asked Majeed how he moved the money for the players and he said, 'the only reason I bought the football club (Croydon Athletic) was to move the money'. Majeed had earlier boasted in that conversation, relating to general fixing, that "the three boys who are very, very clever at this (were)…Salman (Butt), Kamran (Akmal) and xxx (a name that was blanked out from transcript)."

Majeed added, when the journalist pointed at the replays on television, that they were investigated for the defeats in Australia in 2010: "Boss they get bloody investigated, they have been talking about investigating the players for the last 50 years."

Within the recording played to the court, Mahmood urged Majeed to phone Kamran Akmal, though why he was calling him was not made clear from the transcript. Majeed did, though, call Akmal first on his mobile, getting his voicemail and then tried him unsuccessfully at the team hotel room at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington.

The case continues.

No evidence of Australia fixing, says ACSU officer

The court heard there was no evidence to back up
Mazhar Majeed's claims about Australia

A senior anti-corruption officer for the ICC told a court on Tuesday that his department had no evidence of any match-fixing carried out by the Australia team.

Alan Peacock, who has been with the ICC's anti-corruption and security unit since its inception in September 2000, was asked a question by Salman Butt's legal team as to whether he had evidence that Australia fix matches or parts of matches. "We have no evidence," he replied.

The line of questioning came from Butt's lawyers as they were seeking to discredit agent Mazhar Majeed, who is at the centre of spot-fixing allegations involving Butt and who claimed in secret recordings played in Southwark Crown Court that Australia are the biggest match-fixers and fix ten "brackets" a day. The claim caused an angry backlash in Australia overnight as players and officials leapt to the defence of the team.

That allegation by Majeed was one of several outlandish ones heard in court on Monday that included being "very good friends" with Hollywood actor Brad Pitt and tennis champion Roger Federer.

Ali Bajwa QC attacked the credibility of Majeed as Butt sat in the dock next to former team-mate Mohammed Asif.

Both face charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, following the Lord's Test in August last year when they allegedly conspired with Majeed, teenage fast bowler Mohammad Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-determined no-balls. Butt and Asif deny the charges.

Huge odds of exact no-balls - expert

The court was shown footage of Mohammad
Asif's no-ball at Lord's

The likelihood of three no-balls occurring at pre-determined times in a Test match had a "one in a 1.5 million chance" of happening, a court was told on Monday during the alleged spot-fixing trial of two Pakistan cricketers.


Sky Sports statistician Benedict Bermange, appearing as a prosecution witness late in the afternoon, made the claim at Southwark Crown Court where former Pakistan captain Salman Butt and fast bowler Mohammad Asif are defending themselves against allegations of conspiring to bowl pre-planned no-balls in the Lord's Test last year. Both players deny the charges.


The jury has already heard the background of how two no-balls from Mohammad Amir and one from Mohammad Asif were bowled at exactly the same time in the match that had been predicted on a secretly-filmed tape by agent Mazhar Majeed, who was exposed in a sting operation by an undercover News of the World journalist.


"According to my calculations, there is a one in a million chance (of three no-balls being bowled at pre-determined times)," Bermange said, "but for these two bowlers that becomes a one in a 1.5 million chance," presumably because of their expertise and usual accuracy at not overstepping.


In Bermange's statement he revealed that Pakistan bowl 23 percent more no-balls than any other country, but also said that Asif's 58 career no-balls - or just under two per Test - was low in comparison to his contemporaries. That number included 24 in one match against South Africa.


Asif's legal representative Alexander Milne questioned Bermange on his results and agreed the rate for bowling pre-determined no-balls without corrupt intervention would be "far-fetched" but did also gain a valuable concession from Bermange as to his client.


When Milne pointed to a printed graphic illustrating Asif's front foot for his no-ball and suggested to Bermange it was a no-ball by just a fraction, the Sky Sports statistician replied: "Yes".


Although Bermange was revealed to have a science degree at Durham University, he did admit to having a maths 'A' level and had taken a statistics course. He also stated that by some quirk (maybe to do with the slope), Lord's has a 20 percent higher no-ball rate than any other ground around the world.


But that was of little consolation for the teenage Amir who, according to Bermange, overstepped by some distance.


"I have attended 50 Test matches within my current position and these two (bowled by Amir) were the largest no-balls in terms of the front foot being over the crease that I have seen."


Reporter Mazhar Mahmood will again appear in the witness stand on Tuesday and there will soon be an appearance from statistician David Kendix, who devised the world rankings for the ICC. The case continues.

We haven't tampered with the ball - Cook

Alastair Cook came out in defence of his bowlers at Heathrow

England's one-day captain Alastair Cook has rubbished claims by Pakistan fast bowler Umar Gul that James Anderson and Stuart Broad were involved in ball tampering. Cook said if Gul did have any concerns he should have gone through the proper channels.

Gul hit the headlines after giving an interview in Karachi, where he suggested he had seen examples of ball tampering and mentioned seeing Anderson and Broad using various techniques. However, he later tried to step back from controversy by saying he was only talking about the England pair in relation to natural wear that develops on a ball by throwing it across the outfield.

"We certainly haven't tampered with the ball and if he did have any complaints he should have gone to the ICC over that," Cook said at Heathrow airport ahead of England's departure for their one-day series in India. "I think he has almost said himself that it has been a bit of a mountain out of a molehill."

In a statement to Pakpassion.net, where Gul's original comments first appeared, he clarified his remarks. "I was explaining that the ball gets scratched when it is thrown against the rough surface or hits the advertisement boards along the boundary rope. In this manner, I said, every bowler can be accused of doing it."

Gul made his earlier comments in an interview where he talked about the art of reverse swing and how various elements of ball tampering shouldn't be included with the laws. "Leave cricket with its traditional ways rather than making changes that would take all the charm out of it," he said.

The recent change to using a separate ball from either end during one-day internationals, which will be implemented for the first time when Bangladesh play West Indies, could impact the role of reverse swing during 50-over matches. Under the previous regulations the ball was changed after 34 overs and the period shortly before the switch was when the fast bowlers would sometimes start to get the ball to reverse. However, with neither ball having no more than 25 overs of wear it will be harder for the natural deterioration to take place.

Spot-fixing trial set to begin

Mohammad Asif will appear in court
with Salman Butt on Tuesday 

Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif begin their trial at a criminal court in London on Tuesday, more than a year on from the spot-fixing allegations that engulfed the cricket world during Pakistan's troubled tour of England.

The former Pakistan Test captain Butt, 27 on Friday, and fast bowler Asif, 28, will appear at Southwark Crown Court with the possibility of a custodial sentence awaiting them if deemed guilty. Both players are pleading not guilty. Reporting restrictions are in place on this event.

The players are facing charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, following the Lord's Test in August last year when they allegedly conspired to bowl pre-determined no-balls.

Butt and Asif, along with teenage fast bowler Mohammad Amir, were exposed by the now defunct British tabloid the News of the World in an undercover sting operation. Their former agent Mazher Majeed was recorded by a secret camera, saying when no-balls would be delivered by the bowlers.

The fact the case is being heard at a crown court shows the seriousness of the allegations facing the defendants, with crown court being the more senior of the criminal courts.

One of the complexities of this trial surrounds its high-profile nature. Because the issue was so well reported globally at the time, after it was revealed in the News of the World, it is likely to be difficult to find a jury that has not in some way heard of the case or information about it and therefore inherited some amount of bias.

A re-trial could therefore occur, though how any future jury would also have no previous knowledge of the story is also difficult to quantify.

The players have already been punished by the ICC after a disciplinary hearing in Doha, Qatar. There, the three players were each banned from the sport for at least five years. Butt received a further suspended five-year ban and Asif was handed a further two-year suspended sanction.

All three players have filed appeals against their bans at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The Pakistan team has admirably set about recovering from a controversy that shocked the sport, after the key players were suspended. Asif, the right-arm swing bowler, and left-armer Amir quickly became one of the most potent new-ball attacks in world cricket. Butt, meanwhile, was a respected opening batsman and was seen as an articulate, diplomatic captain by the British media on that tour last year, prior to the allegations.

The most important aspect at stake during the trial is for cricket as a whole and its integrity, honesty and transparency, according to sports lawyer Max Eppel of McFadden's LLP, who has worked on cases involving cricket and football among others.

"The most important thing for any fan of sports is to know the teams are going out there on a level playing field," he said. "If there is any hint of corruption, the sport could be destroyed. Ultimately, any kind of hype about a criminal court trial is bad publicity for a sport, but if there are good things to come out of it, it is that the sport will get a chance to see any ramifications there are for ever getting involved in this sort of stuff."

Umar Akmal dropped from Test squad

Umar Akmal was dropped from the Test squad
and asked to work on playing long innings

Umar Akmal has been dropped from the Pakistan Test squad for their series against Sri Lanka in the UAE starting later this month. Shoaib Malik, who was on Pakistan's tour of Zimbabwe after gaining clearance from the PCB, finds a place in the 15-man squad.

Several of the first-choice bowlers who were rested for the Zimbabwe tour return. Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz come back and are joined by Aizaz Cheema and Junaid Khan in the fast-bowling department, with no place for Sohail Tanvir or Tanvir Ahmed. Left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman is also back in the squad while Imran Farhat has been retained as a third opener along with Mohammad Hafeez and Taufeeq Umar.

Umar Akmal has not scored a Test century since his hugely impressive debut in 2009. After a poor year in 2010, when he averaged just 24.33, he was left out of the XI for the two Tests in New Zealand. He returned to the side for the Tests in the West Indies, but after scoring just one Test half-century this year, and struggling to play long innings in ODIs as well, he has been left out of the Test squad.

"Umar is a talented cricketer but he was not justifying his place in Test cricket," Mohsin Khan, Pakistan's chief selector, said explaining the decision. "This was the reason our middle order was facing problems during the recent tour [of Zimbabwe]. He may be good in limited-over cricket but Tests and ODIs are contrasting games.

"In Tests, Umar is required to play long innings so we have advised him to play domestic cricket and learn to bat for long."

Umar Akmal's exclusion means Asad Shafiq and Shoaib Malik will be fighting for a middle-order spot. After a year out of the Pakistan setup, Malik gained clearance from the PCB's integrity committee just in time to go to Zimbabwe. He did not play the Test there and did not make an impact in the ODIs and Twenty20 internationals. He has been consistently performing on the domestic circuit, finishing as the second-highest run-getter in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Division One last season, with 799 runs at an average of 73.57. Shafiq, meanwhile, has struggled in Tests since getting half-centuries in each of his first two innings.

Malik's inclusion in the squad comes on the same day he led Sialkot to a win in the final of the Faysal Bank T20 Cup, after getting them there with an unbeaten 88 in the semi-final. Mohsin, though, said his Twenty20 performances were not a factor when deciding the Test squad. "Shoaib is not selected on the basis of the ongoing Twenty20 Cup but what inspired us was his fitness and the form he is currently in."

The other notable exclusion from the squad is Tanvir Ahmed, who has taken 16 wickets in the four Tests he has played since debuting against South Africa in November last year. He was not on the tour of Zimbabwe, though, and Cheema, who took eight wickets on debut in the Bulawayo Test and another eight wickets in the three-match one-day series, keeps his place.

Cheema was one of several fringe players given a chance on the Zimbabwe tour, but not all have retained their places. "There might be players dropped following the recent Zimbabwe tour but that was a chance taken on youngsters," Mohsin said. "We actually had to try new players and now we have a picture of who stands where."

Junaid Khan also made his Test debut in Bulawayo, and though he was not as successful as Cheema, he was selected, Mohsin said, because of his ability to bowl fast. "If Junaid was retained despite his unimpressive form it is because we need to have a genuine fast bowler."

The first of three Tests starts on October 18 in Abu Dhabi.

Squad: Mohammad Hafeez, Taufeeq Umar, Imran Farhat, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-haq (capt), Asad Shafiq, Adnan Akmal (wk), Shoaib Malik, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Aizaz Cheema, Wahab Raiz, Umar Gul, Junaid Khan

Standby players: Tanvir Ahmed, Mohammad Talha, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Yasir Shah

Gul opposed to legalising ball tampering

Umar Gul is against legalising ball tampering

Umar Gul, the Pakistan fast bowler, has claimed ball tampering is not new to cricket and that there are legal and illegal methods to change the condition of the ball. He was also opposed to legalising ball tampering, in contrast to Shoaib Akhtar, who wrote in his recent autobiography that it wasn't a bad idea to "set rules" for tampering.

"The claims [of ball tampering] have always emerged against Pakistan but have never been proved," Gul told reporters at National Cricket Stadium in Karachi. "There are many ways to tamper with the ball that are illegal, like using your nail, but there are other ways to change the condition that are legal. A player can throw the ball on the bounce to make it rough or the ball can be damaged when it hits the advertising boards on the boundary."

During the ICC World Twenty20 in 2009, Gul's ability to reverse-swing the ball early had drawn concern from the New Zealand camp but he shrugged it off. Gul did not think ball tampering should be made legal, though, saying it would make it too easy to bowl reverse swing, which is an art, and some of the beauty of the game would be lost if the practice was legalised. "I don't think the way is to legalise it. Leave cricket with its traditional ways rather than making changes that would take all the charm out of it."

Gul also responded to comments in Akhtar's autobiography about Sachin Tendulkar being afraid of the former Pakistan fast bowler. "I can't say specifically that I saw Tendulkar running away from Shoaib, but no one can deny that when Shoaib was at his fastest and best the world's best batsmen were nervous against him and there is no batsmen who is not nervous or ruffled when facing a pure fast bowler," Gul said. "Even Brian Lara, who I rate as the world's best batsman, admitted to feeling ruffled when he was hit on the helmet by a bouncer from Shoaib."

Pakistan leave for the UAE on October 15 to take on Sri Lanka in two Tests, three ODIs and two Twenty20s, and Gul, who was rested for the tour of Zimbabwe, is likely to be back in the squad. "I am all fit but need a flow for which I have to have lengthy bowling spells," Gul said. "I am bowling regularly and will be playing first-class cricket. If selected, I will train in the nets to quickly get back my form."

Foreign coach the way forward for Pakistan - Lawson

Geoff Lawson insists that the language barrier
won't be an issue for a foreign coach

Former Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson has suggested that the Pakistan Cricket Board should replace the outgoing coach Waqar Younis with a foreigner, free from the influence of Pakistan's domestic politics.

"I said it when I left as well, Pakistan need a foreign coach," Lawson, who was sacked as Pakistan coach in 2008, told the Express Tribune from Australia. "Whether you come from Karachi or Lahore, the pressure on you from external sources doesn't let you do the work properly.

"A foreign coach won't have that excess baggage. He won't worry about politics but will just concentrate on making the best team he can. In my time, language wasn't a problem. The common language was cricket and that's all they had to understand."

Lawson, who currently coaches the Kochi franchise in the IPL, stressed that the language barrier wouldn't be a problem for a foreign coach.

"In my Kochi team, some players don't speak Hindi so they communicate in English," Lawson said. "It's just an excuse for not appointing a foreign coach despite all the experience and assistance he can bring to Pakistan cricket."

Waqar recently announced that the upcoming Zimbabwe tour will be his last, citing personal reasons including his and his wife's health. During his tenure Pakistan lurched from one controversy to another, including the spot-fixing scandal and Zulqarnain Haider's mysterious disappearance from the team hotel, but they also managed to show a revival in Test fortunes and belie expectations to reach the World Cup semi-finals.

Pakistan have changed coaches frequently in recent years, which Lawson said could be a deterrent for potential replacements. "They will have a very, very difficult time [replacing Waqar]," he said. "Not many will be willing to trust them because of how they've acted in the past but I'll still tell the PCB to get a foreign coach even if it's on a short, six-month contract.

"It's not so much the situation but the chairman's [Ijaz Butt] reputation just isn't good enough for him to invite foreign coaches over to Pakistan."

Lawson was highly critical of Shahid Afridi, who announced a 'conditional' retirement from the game after being axed as one-day captain.

"He's playing well enough and I'd love to see him in the team," Lawson said of Afridi. "However, he needs to realise he's not the most important person in the team. He's a part and that needs to dawn on him. He doesn't accept criticism and thinks he's bigger and better than the team. That won't lead him anywhere."

Waqar Younis resigns as Pakistan coach

Waqar Younis has resigned as Pakistan coach citing personal reasons that include his and his wife's health. The upcoming tour of Zimbabwe will be his last assignment with the national team.

"I have tendered my resignation to the [Pakistan Cricket] board last week and the tour to Zimbabwe will be my last," Waqar Younis said at a press conference in Karachi. "I have taken this decision on personal grounds, including medical grounds, and have no differences with anyone and my resignation has been accepted by the board.

"Had everything in my personal life -- that is, my wife's health and my own -- been all right, I would not have taken this decision. But I do not want to fail to do the job justice because of the personal problems on my mind."

Waqar, 39, took over as coach of the national side in March 2010 in the aftermath of the disastrous tour of Australia on which Pakistan failed to win a single game. He replaced Intikhab Alam and his stint coincided with another turbulent phase for Pakistan cricket. The spot-fixing controversy erupted during the tour of England and the wicketkeeper, Zulqarnain Haider, fled to London while Pakistan was involved in a series against South Africa in the UAE. Prior to the World Cup, where his team reached the semi-final, Waqar oversaw a successful tour of New Zealand, where Pakistan won both the Test and ODI series.

Waqar described his tenure as coach as a "rollercoaster" and claimed his side was shocked when told that he'll be stepping down. "It was a roller coaster for me, with a lot of controversies including the spot-fixing scandal, but I am proud of the fact that all these young boys have carried on the good work despite these problems.

"I only told the players on Saturday morning, and they were shocked because until today the matter was between me and the PCB, but I am sure that this young team will do well in future."

The PCB spokesman Nadeem Sarwar said: ""The PCB has accepted his resignation and understands his personal reasons. His tenure was good and we wish him the best in his future."

Waqar's most recent major assignment was the tour of the West Indies where Pakistan drew the Test series and won the ODI series but it was marred by his differences with then limited-overs captain Shahid Afridi over discipline and team selection that ultimately led to Afridi's retirement from international cricket. However, Waqar claimed his resignation had nothing to do with what transpired during the West Indies tour.

Ijaz Ahmed, the former Pakistan captain, who took over as batting and fielding coach at the same time as Waqar was appointed head coach, was appointed assistant coach for the tour of Zimbabwe. The PCB are yet to name a replacement for Waqar.

The tour of Zimbabwe begins on August 28 and includes one practice game, one Test, three ODIs and two Twenty20 internationals.

Test cricket returns to Sharjah

Sharjah will host its first Test in nine years this November, after Pakistan and Sri Lanka reached an agreement to play the last of their three Tests in the UAE at the venue. The Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium has hosted more ODIs than any other ground but has not had any international cricket between top teams since 2003.

With international stadiums being built in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, it had looked unlikely that Sharjah would make a return as a venue for big matches. However, the Emirates Cricket Board has now said there will be a Test there starting November 3.

"We've finally confirmed that Pakistan will play a Test in Sharjah," Dilawar Mani, chief of the Emirates board, told the Express Tribune. "We offered Sharjah at the very beginning - apart from Dubai and Abu Dhabi - but it was necessary for both sides to agree to play in Sharjah. We're now delighted to know that it has happened."

The other two venues for the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Test series are the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi and the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, which hosted their debut Tests during the Pakistan-South Africa series in November 2010.

Sharjah was once a popular venue for neutral ODIs and tri-series and has hosted 200 one-day internationals, 24 of those between India and Pakistan. However, the venue received a blow when India, who had played 72 one-dayers in Sharjah, stopped playing there. The ground hosted its debut Test in 2002, but after 2003 did not have any international cricket till it was named as Afghanistan's home ground in 2010, and hosted two ODIs between them and Canada.

The stadium had disintegrated in the absence of top-flight cricket but is now being brought back up to top standard. "The renovation work is in full swing and we hope to be ready by November 3," Mazhar Khan, the stadium administrator, said. "The venue was very keen to host a fixture during the two series that Pakistan will be playing [in the UAE]. After all, Sharjah has many Pakistani and Sri Lankan followers who will now be able to watch their teams."

Sri Lanka will play three Tests, five ODIs and a Twenty20 international against Pakistan from October 18 onwards in the UAE.

Kamran vows to make a comeback

Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal has expressed his disappointment at losing his central contract for the second half of 2011, but said he is determined to prove his worth in domestic cricket and make a comeback.

"I'm extremely disappointed," Kamran told PTI." I admit that it was my mistake but I think I deserve another chance. Somehow it's the board's decision and I don't want to say much. I've earned the contract for eight years and losing this one is not a big deal."

Kamran was dropped after struggling in the World Cup and was replaced by Mohammad Salman for Pakistan's tour of West Indies. "The selectors were not satisfied with my performance but I just need to keep on playing domestic cricket and prove my form to them," Kamran said. "I'm 29 and fit so I feel that there's at least six years of cricket left in me.

"Everyone makes mistakes but the important thing is learning from them. I vow not to make them again. No wicketkeeper loves to drop catches."

Kamran was not the only active player to lose his contract. Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Yousuf and Danish Kaneria, who were not picked for the World Cup, have been ignored. Malik and Kaneria are yet to be cleared by the PCB's integrity committee and Kaneria has not played for the national team since August 2010. The recently retired pair of Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Akhtar were also left off the list.

No central contracts for Afridi, Kamran Akmal

Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal do not figure in the latest list of PCB central contracts. Younis Khan, who was banned for disciplinary reasons following a winless tour of Australia in 2009-10 and was out of last year's list, has been awarded a Category A contract this time along with current captain Misbah-ul-Haq, allrounder Mohammad Hafeez, spinners Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman, and fast bowler Umar Gul - the only player retained in the top category from last year's list.

List of contracted players Category A Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Gul, Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman Category B Abdul Razzaq, Imran Farhat, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Wahab Riaz, Taufeeq Umar Category C Junaid Khan, Tanvir Ahmed, Hammad Azam, Sarfraz Ahmed, Sohail Khan, Adnan Akmal, Yasir Shah, Rameez Raja, Sharjeel Khan Stipend Category Mohammad Talha, Aizaz Cheema, Zulfiqar Babar, Raza Hassan, Mohammad Ayub Dogar

Afridi had retired "conditionally" from international cricket following his removal as captain after the tour of West Indies, while Kamran, who also was in Category A last year, has been ignored since the World Cup. Afridi was involved in a legal battle with the Pakistan board after he hinted at differences between him and coach Waqar Younis during the West Indies tour; these were confirmed by Waqar and team manager Intikhab Alam in their tour report. Afridi has said he will not go back on his decision as long as the present PCB regime remains in power.

Middle-order batsman Umar Akmal and opener Imran Farhat were retained in Category B. Also included in that grade werere Abdul Razzaq, demoted from grade A last year, middle-order batsmen Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali, who have been impressive finds for Pakistan in the last couple of years. Left-arm seamer Wahab Riaz, who took a five-for against India in the World Cup semi-final, also featured in grade B.

As expected, there was no place for Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir and Salman Butt , the three cricketers banned for their involvement in the spot-fixing controversy, while Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Yousuf and Danish Kaneria, who were not picked for the World Cup, have been ignored. Malik and Kaneria are yet to be cleared by the PCB's integrity committee. Kaneria has not played for the national team since August 2010, after the PCB tightened its anti-corruption programme following the spot-fixing controversy and Kaneria's own entanglement in a corruption case in Essex. Kaneria was cleared by a police enquiry in Essex, but is yet to be cleared by the PCB; he has petitioned against his continued non-clearance.

"As long as Malik and Kaneria are not cleared by the PCB integrity committee, a meeting of which is scheduled for August 15, they will not be considered for the contracts," Intikhab, also the PCB's director, said at a press conference in Lahore.

In Category C were seamer Tanvir Ahmed, who picked up six wickets on Test debut against South Africa, wicketkeeper Adnan Akmal, and the trio who have been picked in the squad for the tour of Zimbabwe - Yasir Shah, Sohail Khan and Rameez Raja. Aizaz Cheema, who has also been picked, was placed in the stipend category.

The contracts are for a duration of six months - July 1 to December 31 this year.

Shahid Afridi’s father passes away

 KARACHI: Former captain Shahid Afridi’s father passed away here on Wednesday following an extended illness, Geo News reported.

The family members of the cricketer told the reporters that Sahabzada Fazul Rehman Afridi succumbed to illness. 

Afridi’s father was not keeping good health for the past many days, that is why, the all-rounder returned home after canceling his foreign tours.

The funeral prayers will be offered after Asr prayers while he will be buried in Scot Colony graveyard in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Afridi's brother Mushtaq Afridi told.

ICC Task Team to visit Pakistan

A visit by the ICC's Pakistan Task Team (PTT) to Pakistan is on the cards, though details of the scope and nature of the trip as well as the timing are yet to be finalised. The development comes after the PTT's report on Pakistan cricket was criticised by the PCB on two counts, among others: the timing of its submission, and the observation that other than the visit of an individual member, the task team had not actually set foot in the country before putting together the report.

That criticism has especially stung the ICC though officials insist that the trip is not a direct consequence of that and had been on the cards for some time. It is unclear yet, however, who will visit and when; theGuardian reports that Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman and head of the PTT, might do so. Haroon Lorgat, the ICC's chief executive, will almost certainly be part of any such delegation and has been a regular visitor to Pakistan; his last trip was just before the World Twenty20 in 2010.

What will be on the agenda is also not yet known. But it is difficult to imagine that some discussion on the broadest recommendations of the report - on the politicised nature of PCB governance and the system of appointment of the board chairman by the patron, the country's president - will not form part of it. Meetings with the highest political offices in the country will not be ruled out. The PCB will be keen to revive discussion on security matters and the return of international cricket, an issue they feel was given little space in the report.

The development has emerged at a time of growing divergence between the PCB and ICC over the 38-page report, which made 63 recommendations for what, in effect, amounts to a re-haul of the game and its governance in Pakistan. That the Pakistan board was not particularly taken in by the report was evident in their long and detailed public response - their own observations - made earlier this week. The board said the report was a "scholarly exercise" and took a dig at the fact that nobody other than Dave Richardson, the ICC's general manager and a PTT member, had even come to Pakistan. It also said the report contained factual errors and that a number of recommendations were "superfluous or redundant".

The prospect of ICC officials visiting Pakistan had been discussed earlier in meetings between the two bodies on the issue of the ICC governance-clause amendment, which calls for political interference in cricket boards to end, effectively by 2013. That was an amendment against which the PCB sent the ICC a legal notice in May, ahead of the ICC annual conference; along with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the PCB is one of the boards most affected by the change.

In those meetings in Dubai before the annual conference, the two sides agreed to extend the deadline given to boards to implement the changes and the ICC expressed its willingness to visit Pakistan and discuss the changes with president Asif Ali Zardari. The clause was voted in at the annual conference without any objection from any board, though incidentally, the legal notice has not been withdrawn but lies inactive currently.

It has also emerged that the PCB was unhappy at the timing of the release of the report. The PCB had requested the ICC not to make the report public until their response to it had been submitted. The ICC, however, put the entire report online on July 6, leading the Pakistan board to go public with their own observations.

In his defence of the report, Lorgat said that the PCB's chief operating officer Subhan Ahmed had been given the report "more than a week prior to the ICC executive board meeting in Hong Kong [in the last week of June] ... and provided only minor observations which were incorporated into the final report."

The PCB disputes this version. Though officials agreed that the report was given to Ahmed, they claimed it was understood at that stage that any observations would be informal and preliminary; in fact they claimed only Ahmed was allowed to see the report and was given less than 24 hours to comment on it. "This is something the chairman needs to see and give feedback on as well as the board of governors and not just one person," a board official told ESPNcricinfo. The ICC denies this was the case.

In any case, some broad observations were given to the ICC and, by the time officials flew out to Hong Kong, incorporated in the report. The report was officially presented at the annual conference in June. At the time, PCB officials said they would respond to it with their own observations. CricNews understands that the PCB then asked the ICC on return from the meeting "to not put the report up on the website as the board was going to prepare their observations."

That it was published before formal observations were given has upset the PCB. An ICC official said that the report had been released online because "in the interests of transparency we publish all reports." A senior Pakistani official insisted that the issue wasn't the publication of the report. "We feel they should've done it once we had officially submitted our observations. Now they say we have discredited the report with our observations."

As a fall-out of this episode, believes the PCB, the ICC has tried to limit further damage and indicated their willingness to send the PTT to Pakistan in the near future.

High Court slams PCB on Akhtar case

Lahore: Pakistan Cricket Board today came under scathing criticism from Lahore High Court for failing to file a reply on fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar's petition against the ban imposed on him on disciplinary charges.

Shoaib Akhtar had challenged the 18-month ban and the seven million rupees fine that was imposed on him some two years ago on disciplinary grounds. © AFP

Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed lambasted the working of the Board for its failure to file a reply on a writ petition by Akhtar against the 18-month ban and fine of seven million rupees imposed on him by the appellate tribunal of the Board.
"The board is destroying cricket. I don't know how the board is operating I am surprised at the failure to file their reply," the Justice remarked.
Akhtar had challenged the ban and fine that was imposed on him some two years ago. The Lahore High Court had suspended the ban and allowed Akhtar to play cricket but the Board has already deducted the fine of seven million rupees from the fast bowler's earnings with them.
Akhtar announced his retirement from international cricket during the recent World Cup and also pulled out of the Sri Lankan Premier League Twenty20 tournament owing to his personal and business commitments.
The High Court set the next date of hearing for September 27 while directing the PCB legal advisor to file his reply before that date at any cost.
PCB's legal advisor Tafazzul Rizvi, however, claimed that the Judge had passed the remarks in a light mood.
"I told the Judge during recession that his remarks would be played up and give a negative portrayal of the board in the media," Rizvi said.
He said he had outlined the policy of the Board on the Akhtar case clearly.
"I told the honourable court that the Supreme Court had already ruled in another case in our favour that is similar to this one the writ filed by Shoaib should be dismissed," he said.

PTI

PCB not to organise its 'home' series in Zimbabwe

Lahore: The Pakistan cricket Board might split its forthcoming Test and ODI series against Sri Lanka at two neutral venues but has dropped the idea of organising it in Zimbabwe.

Since 2009, no team has toured Pakistan for an official series because of security reasons although Afghanistan was in the country last month to play a series against the Pakistan 'A' side. © AFP

Zimbabwe was under consideration to be a neutral venue for the Pakistan-Sri Lanka series later this year but sources in the Board said the high costs involved in organising the matches had virtually ruled it out of contention.
"The costs are a big factor in the Board deciding on neutral venues for its home series like the one against Sri Lanka. Zimbabwe was a high cost option," an official source said.
Pakistan has been forced to play its home series abroad since 2009 when terrorists attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore.
Since then, no team has toured Pakistan for an official series because of security reasons although Afghanistan was in the country last month to play a series against the Pakistan 'A' side.
Sri Lanka have also asked Pakistan to organise the series in October and November either in Sri Lanka or at a neutral venue while turning down an official invitation from the PCB to tour Pakistan for the series.
"Chances are that the Tests may be played in Sri Lanka and the limited over matches in Dubai and Abu Dhabi," the source said.
He said Sri Lanka was a viable option because of low costs and also because having Tests in a cricket nation could induce more people to watch the matches.
"There are decent crowds for the limited overs matches in Dubai and Abu Dhabi as we have seen in recent series there but hardly anyone comes for the Tests. So we are mulling the possibility of splitting the series into two parts and organising it in two countries," the source said.
Pakistan will also have to play its home series against England in Sri Lanka or some other neutral venue as the England Cricket board has refused to send its team to Pakistan because of security concerns.
The source said Pakistan was keen to support Zimbabwe and the national team would be touring the African nation in August to play a Test and some one-day matches.
PTI