Pakistan cricketers 'were set up'

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High Commissioner: 'Video could have been filmed after the no balls'

The three Pakistan cricketers accused of corruption may have been set up, according to the country's high commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan.

When asked whether Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, who are being investigated for spot-fixing, had been framed, Hasan replied: "Yes."

Hasan claims the News of the World video allegedly exposing the scandal may have been made after the incident.

However, the paper said it "refuses to respond to such ludicrous allegations".

Asif and Amir are alleged to have bowled three no-balls on purpose at pre-determined times to facilitate betting coups after a "middle-man" accepted £150,000 in cash from an undercover reporter from the News of the World, who published the allegations in Sunday's paper.

The three cricketers Hasan referred to - all now at the centre of a police investigation into the alleged incidents during the fourth Test at Lord's - will miss the rest of their country's tour of England.

Before stating that he believed the players may have been framed, Hasan earlier on Thursday insisted the players were "innocent".

"The players have voluntarily offered not to be included [in the tour]," he said. "They want to clear their names first."

Later he emerged from a Pakistan Cricket Board inquiry in London to tell the BBC that the News of the World videotape of its meeting with the 'middle-man' - cricket agent Mazhar Majeed - was inconclusive.

"You [the media] are jumping to conclusions, because no-balls are not taped like that," he said.

"We have not seen videos - what the time [was when they were taken], what the date [was]... whether they were taken before or after the match."

"Do you have answers to the questions?"

When asked if the video could be fake, he replied: "You [the media] must know better because you are the media people."

More to follow.

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