25 October,2010 08:54 AM IST | | Robert Craddock
Pakistanu00a0officials were warned before their team's ill-fated series against England that half of their squad had links to illegal bookmakers.u00a0The claims were made by former Pakistan Cricket Board chairman General Tauqir Zia on Four Corners as part of an investigation into match fixing. Zia said the PCB, of which he was chairman from 1999-2003, was told before the team played against Australia and England in England in July and August that the International Cricket Council had noticed irregularities in the SMS accounts of six or seven players. During his time at the helm of Pakistan cricket Zia was approached to select a player who allegedly rigged games. "I was a serving army officer and there's a gentleman who rings me up and says, "so and so should be included in the team because he fixes matches and we get money.
"So I said you are threatening a man in uniform... you go to hell and that man is not going to be put in the team. And he never was included in the side."
Ejaz Butt, the 72-year-old chairman of Pakistan cricket, is heavily criticised in the programme by former Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson who said it was a "great shock" that Butt was given the job.
"There was lots of speculation who would get the job. Butt was not one who was mentioned because people just thought that would be too ridiculous," Lawson said.
