Pakistan has sent a three-man delegation to London to probe allegations of 'spot-fixing' in the fourth Test at Lord's.
Talks to continue over upcoming limited overs fixtures
Pakistan has sent a three-man delegation representing the Federal Investigation Agency - the country's highest law enforcement agency - to London to probe allegations of 'spot-fixing' in the fourth Test against England.
Sunday's edition of
The News of the World alleged that some members of the Pakistan team had been paid to deliberately bowl no-balls during the match at Lord's.
Scotland Yard officers are investigating claims that reporters from the newspaper paid a middleman £150,000 in return for exact details.
Skipper Salman Butt, seam bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal all gave statements to police.
Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik insisted his country would also be conducting an independent investigation into the charges.
"Scotland Yard is doing its own investigations, our team is there to assist them and also independently find out what has happened," Malik said.
"The FIA delegation... will not only assist but also carry out their own inquiries into the allegations made against our players."
Thorough inquiry
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, the man who officially launched the FIA investigation, admitted the allegations had shamed his country.
"The latest fixing allegations have bowed our heads in shame," he said. "I have ordered a thorough inquiry into these allegations so that action could be taken against those who are proven guilty."
Meanwhile, cricket's administrators are set for further negotiations and crisis management over the controversy that has rocked the sport.
The International Cricket Council, the Pakistan Cricket Board and the England and Wales Cricket Board executives have yet to arrange a meeting.
However a spokesman for the ICC acknowledged on Monday morning that telephone and e-mail correspondence had been almost constant through the past two days between all three parties.
The tourists are due to face England in two Twenty20 games and then a five-match NatWest Series over the next three weeks. They are scheduled to leave London on Monday and travel to Taunton for a warm-up match.
Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed insisted on Sunday that the planned one-day leg of the tour would go ahead, though there are concerns that the fixtures could be jeopardy.
