Hameed denies accusing players in betting row

 

Batsman Yasir Hameed denied telling a British newspaper that his teammates were corrupt after apparently being caught out on Sunday describing to an undercover reporter a culture of betting scams. The News of The World said Hameed had “sensationally confirmed” its report last week that some team players had accepted money to fix aspects of a recent Test match against England in London. These allegations led to Pakistan Test captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif being charged by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for corruption. They were also questioned by police. The paper said Hameed had told one of its reporters in a bar in Nottingham, central England, that some team players were fixing “almost every match”. “They’ve been caught. Only the ones that get caught are branded crooks. They were doing it (fixing) in almost every match. God knows what they were up to. Scotland Yard was after them for ages,” Hameed was quoted as saying. “It makes me angry because I’m playing my best and they are trying to lose.” The 32-year-old denied however that he had bad-mouthed his teammates to the media, telling AFP: “I have not given any interview to the News of the World or any newspaper.” Hameed added: “I can never think of blaming my teammates in match-fixing. I have just told the team management that the newspaper is claiming I have given them an interview. This is not correct.” He remains in England after playing in Pakistan’s Test series here, despite not being picked for the one-day matches which start Sunday, and admitted going to a number of parties in Nottingham. However, he insisted: “There were no strangers.” The News of the World printed a photograph of Hameed which appeared to have been taken by a hidden camera as proof of their meeting, in which he also said that he himself had been asked to fix games. “If you sat here and said, ‘I’m a bookie and I want you to fix the match tomorrow’ — I’ve met lots of people like that in the past and I refused. They offered me handsome money,” he was quoted as saying. Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed told reporters at the team’s hotel in Cardiff late Saturday: “I have just spoken to Yasir and he did deny it (speaking to the News of the World). “I said, ‘If you have not said these things, why are they saying this?’. Again, he said, ‘I have not said it.’ That’s all. Let’s wait and see what happens.”