Pakistan to send vigilance officer to Champions Trophy

The Pakistan Cricket Board will send a vigilance officer with the team for this year's Champions Trophy in England in a bid to avoid a repeat of the 2010 spot-fixing scandal.

PCB Chairman Zaka Ashraf told Reuters on Friday that steps were being taken to ensure the image of Pakistan cricket did not suffer again as it did when the spot-fixing scandal broke on Pakistan's tour of England three years ago.

"What we are going to do is send a vigilance officer with the security manager that usually goes with the team. We are also going to have the players bound to a special code of conduct for the tour," Ashraf said.

Pakistan go to Scotland and Ireland for a series of one-dayers in May and then to England for the first time since former captain Salman Butt and team mates Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were banned over spot-fixing during the fourth test against at Lord's in 2010.

The trio were jailed by a crown court in London in late 2011 and have now returned to Pakistan after serving their sentences.

"What mistakes we committed last time we will not repeat them. We have to consider Pakistan's prestige and respect," Ashraf said.

Ashraf said he would personally be briefing the players on what was expected of them on the tour. "We don't want any unwelcome people around the team or the players being trapped into another scandal," he said. 

A fourth Pakistani player, Danish Kaneria, who appealed against a life ban imposed on him by the England and Wales Cricket Board for corruption and fixing last year, will learn the outcome of his appeal on Friday.

Photograph: Mohsin Raza/Reuters