Three Pakistan cricketers suspended

The three Pakistan players at the centre of the fixing allegations dominating the team's tour of England will not play in the remaining Twenty20 and one-day international matches.

Team manager Yawar Saeed said Thursday that bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir and test captain Salman Butt have not been suspended but that they will not play in the remainder of the tour.

Saeed said that 13 players will be available for the two Twenty20 matches before three replacements arrive to bolster the squad for the five-match one-day series.

"The T20 squad will remain what it is here this morning, i.e. 13 people,'' Saeed said.

"When we play the one-day internationals, we will be asking for replacements to make the squad up to 16.'' Saeed, who had earlier said the trio would continue playing unless police laid criminal charges against them, did not say who the replacements would be.

Asif, Amir and Butt were at the Pakistan High Commission on Thursday for questioning by a Pakistan Cricket Board investigation. Shahid Afridi is leading the team in its limited-overs matches, starting with a game against English county Somerset on Thursday.

"Obviously, if they have done something bad, you need to give them a punishment,'' Afridi said. ``But I think we are still waiting for the results.

"It will be a really tough series and I think everyone is trying to focus on the cricket now. We are ready to play some good cricket.''

\British newspaper the News of the World alleged Sunday that Amir and Asif were paid to deliberately bowl no-balls in the opening day of the fourth test against England at Lord's last week.

Butt and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal were also implicated in the story. Asif, Amir and Butt had their mobile phones confiscated by police, who also searched hotel rooms and questioned players on Saturday as part of an investigation also involving the International Cricket Council's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit.

- AP