Pakistan ban, fine fixing accuser Hameed

KARACHI, Feb 25 (AFP): Pakistan cricket authorities Friday banned and fined batsman Yasir Hameed for accusing his team-mates of match-fixing and spot-fixing after last year's corruption-marred Lord's Test against England. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) spokesman Nadeem Sawar said that Hameed had been banned from first-class competition and fined 300,000 rupees (about $3,500) "for his spot-fixing allegations against some national players in a newspaper interview last year". He did not specify the length of the ban. Two days after three Pakistani players -- Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer -- were accused by British tabloid the News of the World of spot-fixing in the Lord's Test, Hameed told an undercover reporter that his teammates had been involved in fixing for years. Hameed, 32, has played 25 Tests and 56 one-day matches for Pakistan in a career which began in 2003, but has not been selected since the Lord's Test.