ICC charge-sheets Butt and Akmal

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KARACHI: The International Cricket Council charge-sheeted Test captain Salman Butt and stumper batsman Kamran Akmal after getting unsatisfactory replies on the show cause notices served on them last month, media reports said here today.

A report in the 'Dawn' said the two players were served the notices on August 21, the day Pakistan won the Oval Test against England.

The PCB, though, ignored the notices and went onto announce special victory bonuses for the players and the team management.

Sources told PTI that the ICC was tipped off about the suspicious activities of the two players after the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the governing body also had some information on the conversations between them and the alleged bookie Mazhar Majeed.

The report said both Salman and Akmal were asked to reply to notice within 14 days, asking them to provide their mobile phone numbers which they used during the World T20 besides some other information.

After finding their replies unsatisfactory, the ICC sent charge-sheets to the two players and were delivered at their personal addresses and not through the PCB.

The report quoting sources said although the PCB had some reports about the suspicious activities of Akmal, it was unaware about the activities of Butt, who was elevated to the post of Test captain after Shahid Afridi quit job.

Butt along with pacers Mohammed Asif and Moahhamed Aamir is under investigation by Scotland Yard for the alleged spot-fixing and betting racket carried out by their agent Mazhar Majeed.

Butt, Asif and Aamir were suspended by the ICC following an expose by British tabloid 'News of the World', which claimed that the players took bribe for bowling no-balls during the Lord's Test.

Sources said PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt had apparently made a quiet return to Pakistan on Wednesday but there was no official confirmation on his return.

Ijaz, who has maintained a distance from media during the entire spot-fixing episode in London, is expected to brief the chief patron of the board President Asif Zardari on what sort of situation Pakistan cricket is facing, what punishments the players could face and what steps could be taken by the Board to contest the ICC investigations against the players.

Sources also said there were no immediate plans to recall the trained players from England.

"Scotland Yard has put no restriction on their travel but logistically it is not feasible to call them back now when they can be required for questioning by the police any day that is why they are based in London," one PCB source said.

Another source said Butt is also likely to consult his governing council members on immediately cancelling the central contracts given out to the players under suspension.