Man arrested in cricket 'bets scam' over England-Pakistan Test

A MAN was arrested yesterday on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers following allegations of a betting scam during the fourth Test match between England and Pakistan.

The News of the World alleged that some members of the Pakistan team were involved in cheating during the current Lord's Test.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Following information received from the News of the World we have today (Saturday] arrested a 35-year-old man on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers."

Police would not say last night whether they were planning to interview any Pakistani players in relation to the allegations.

The News of the World claims it was given pre-warning of three separate incidents of cheating by the Pakistan team during the Test.

The paper's reporting team said it was able to buy its way into the match-fixing ring by posing as Far Eastern businessmen. The paper said it paid a middleman more than 300,000 who in turn told them exactly what would happen in the next day's play during the Test.

The arrest takes the shine off England's performance as they head for victory in the Test match.

The England team is understood to be aware of the claims and is currently expecting today's play to go ahead as scheduled.

The match was poised on a knife-edge as England held a slender 2-1 lead. But England look close to an innings victory and a 3-1 series win after taking 14 Pakistan wickets yesterday.

England followed Stuart Broad and Jonathan Trott's record-breaking batting with a ruthless bowling performance as Pakistan collapsed to a hapless 74 all out.

The Pakistani side has been dogged by match-fixing allegations since the 1990s.

In May this year the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption unit looked at the team's poor performance after being heavily beaten by Australia during a tour of the country.

The Pakistani cricket board banned former captain Younus Khan and tour captain Mohammad Yousuf for an indefinite period.

Former captain Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan were banned for one year and fined heavily.

Last year a committee of Pakistan's parliament summoned senior figures from the team to discuss allegations that they deliberately lost a Champions Trophy match to prevent India from reaching the semi-finals.

The state of Pakistan cricket was already in turmoil prior to last night's latest allegations. Repeated incidents of terrorism in the flood-ravaged country resulted in the team playing all their games overseas.