ICC wants urgent solution on suspended Pakistani three players

DUBAI: The chief executive of cricket's governing body on Wednesday said an urgent solution would be sought in resolving the case of three Pakistani players who have been suspended for suspected spot-fixing. Test captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer were provisionally suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) last month following spot-fixing allegations. The suspensions, handed down by the Pakistan Cricket Board, followed allegations in the British newspaper News of the World that the three players contrived to bowl deliberate no-balls during the Lord's Test against England in August. It amounts to spot-fixing, which differs from outright match-fixing in that it relates to incidents which can be manipulated during the game for the benefit of punters. Earlier this month Salman and Aamer had their appeals dismissed by the ICC code of conduct commissioner Michael Beloff -- who will now form an independent anti-corruption tribunal that will look into the actual charges and give a verdict on whether the players are innocent or guilty. Salman had accused the ICC of delaying the formation of the tribunal. "We will carry on and wait for the hearing," Salman said last week. "They (ICC) haven't given us a date even though we asked for it." ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said the counsels were meeting to finalise the dates. "Various counsels were meeting to set up a date for the formation of the tribunal and for the hearing and at this point of time I cannot give an exact date, but rest assured we want to do it as soon as possible," Lorgat told reporters at the ICC headquarters. "Things have been exchanged among four sets of attorneys," said Lorgat. "You need to have an agreement about their availability and readiness to be at the case." A deadline of December 19 has been set for teams to submit provisional squads for next year's World Cup, and the three players are keen to find out their fate as soon as possible. However, Lorgat said: "A panel needs to be set up and we are in the process of forming it."