The meeting in London between the three Pakistan cricketers at the centre of the spot-fixing scandal and senior administrative and diplomatic officials has been pushed back to Thursday, Pakistan’s team manager Yawar Saeed has said. Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir are scheduled to leave Taunton, where the team is currently staying, later on Wednesday to meet, among others, the Pakistan high commissioner to the United Kingdom.
That effectively means they will not play Pakistan’s warm-up game against Somerset on Thursday, though they are expected to rejoin the squad on Friday. Pakistan play the first Twenty20 international against England on Sunday.
Amir was his usual jovial self at the team hotel on Wednesday morning, with a smile on his face, and was bantering with team-mates. He was later joined by Butt, who looked a little circumspect. Both are understood to have received support from Waqar Younis and Ijaz Ahmed, the head and deputy coach respectively. Asif has largely confined himself to his room since the spot-fixing story broke on Saturday night.
