ICC investigators to visit Pak

International Cricket Council investigators have been invited to visit Pakistan at the end of this month, the Pakistan Cricket Board said on Thursday.

"Sir Paul Condon (chief of the ICC anti-corruption unit) and his two associates will visit Pakistan sometime this month. Their tour plan is yet to be finalised," PCB director Munawwar Rana said.

The ICC team is currently in Sri Lanka where they completed questioning former captains Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva on Thursday.

The pair were last year named along with several others by India's Central Bureau of Investigation in relation to match-fixing allegations.

"Initially he (Condon) is coming to Pakistan on an invitation of the PCB, but if he will ask to arrange any meetings with some players, the PCB will cooperate," Rana said.

"We will try to get Salim Malik, if Condon wants. But since he is not our contractual player, he (Salim) has all the rights to refuse meeting the ICC investigators."

Malik was banned for life and fined one million rupees by Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum who was investigating corruption charges in Pakistani cricket.

Malik denies any involvement in match-fixing and has promised to cooperate with the ICC.

Rana also said Pakistani openers Shahid Afridi and Saeed Anwar were interviewed last month by the United Arab Emirates Cricket Board's inquiry committee in Sharjah. ICC investigators were also present.

The interview was conducted after the final of a one-day tournament between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. New Zealand was the third team in the tournament.

Rana gave no other details, but said neither Afridi nor Anwar are among the suspects. They were interviewed only to help the broader probe, he said.

Anwar is one of the six players who was fined and censored by Qayyum. The others are Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mushtaq Ahmad and Akram Raza.

Mail Cricket Editor