Waqar to appear at fixing hearing
Not only Pakistan one-day captain Shahid Afridi but head coach Waqar Younis will also testify before the International Cricket Council (ICC) anti-corruption tribunal in Doha next week.
Not only Pakistan one-day captain Shahid Afridi but head coach Waqar Younis will also testify before the International Cricket Council (ICC) anti-corruption tribunal in Doha next week.
Sources in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirmed that the ICC had asked the Board to ensure that former security manager Major (retd) Javed Najam also appears at the hearing, which will decide the fate of the suspended trio of Salman Butt, Mohammed Asif and Mohammad Aamer.
The three Pakistan players are facing charges of spot-fixing during the Lord's Test against England in 2010. "Najam will also be a witness at the hearing in Doha this week," one source said.
Najam resigned recently from his post after some issues with other officials and did not accompany the team to New Zealand.
Throughout 2010, starting from the T20 World Cup in the West Indies, he had been the security manager of the team including the controversial tour to England. The PCB confirmed on Saturday that the ICC had requested that Afridi and Waqar appear as witnesses at the spot-fixing hearing.
The Pakistan Board said it had accepted the ICC request for Afridi and Waqar to be part of the hearing in person or through teleconference, depending on their convenience and professional commitments as both are in New Zealand with the team.
Najam in his recorded statement given to the ICC ACU earlier had made some damaging observations about the three players.
Excerpts of his statement which were leaked out last week showed that Najam had said: "During the Scotland Yard search of the players' rooms at the team hotel, two police officers found cash in a bag and a small suitcase. Most of the cash was in the suitcase. I asked the police officers to put on record the amount of money they had confiscated and they did so immediately." I have retained that note and attached a copy of it which reads as follows: Room No. 714 - 24,300 UAE Dirhams, 29,787 Pound Sterlings, 12,617 US dollars, 10 Australian dollars, 26,015 Pakistani Rupees, 350 Canadian dollars and 440 South African Rands."