Three players on the Pakistan cricket team are being held for rigged betting after Scotland Yard officers investigated claims that reporters paid a middleman £150,000 in return for details related to play during the final test of the four-match series at Lord’s Cricket Ground. A team from Pakistan’s highest law enforcement agency was sent to London to investigate spot-betting allegations. Depending on the result of the investigation, the country’s entire cricket team could be banned from international competition.

Police questioned Pakistani players last weekend after it was reported that Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were paid to deliberately bowl no-balls during the opening day of the fourth test which England went on to win. Mazhar Majeed, who owns Croydon Athletic Football Club, is the reported middleman. He was arrested and released on bail to appear before police at a future date. The club is devastated to hear about the match-fixing allegations.

Amir, Asif, wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal and captain Salman Butt all gave statements to police over the allegations on the timing of no-balls delivered during the game. Detectives confiscated their cell phones and documents. Butt, Asif and Amir left their team in Taunton, where Pakistan is preparing for Thursday’s match against Somerset, to travel to London to meet with officials for the investigation. The players should be back in time for the first Twenty20 game against England on Friday, which will be followed by five one-day internationals. Not only does this scandal put a black cloud over the team, but it also affects their pockets. BoomBoom, the official kit supplier of the Pakistan cricket team, suspended its commercial relationship with teenage fast bowler Amir today. Asif’s hopes of appearing in an Indian film where he plays a cricket coach also look in doubt.