The Pakistan Cricket Board has dismissed as "rumours", reports that its players may have been involved in some wrong-doing in the Champions Trophy match against Sri Lanka, even though International Cricket Council has admitted to reviewing "a number of incidents that took place" in that game on September 12.
Neither the team management in Colombo nor the Board had been contacted by the ICC in this regard, PCB Director Chisti Mujahid said.
"Had there been anything, the ICC officials must have contacted PCB," Mujahid was quoted as saying by local daily The News on Tuesday.
Mujahid said he had spoken to team manager Yawar Saeed and he too had not been contacted by ICC.
"Yawar said that he has not been contacted by any official of the ICC Anti- Corruption Unit and it is just a rumour nothing else."
The ICC said on Monday, that media reports saying that the Pakistan-Sri Lanka one-day match on Thursday was suspected of being "fixed" were "baseless."
It said that the Anti-Corruption Unit had not asked for tapes of the match because they thought it was fixed. "The ACU regularly asks for tapes of matches as part of their security measure," said an ICC official here.
The ACU later clarified that as part of the security protocols put in place for the event, it has requested that the host broadcaster supply it with tapes of all matches played by all 12 teams competing in Colombo.
A media release quoting ACU head Paul Condon, said "Specifically, it has reviewed a number of incidents that took place in the opening match of the tournament between Sri Lanka and Pakistan on Thursday 12th September… No one should be surprised at this approach and the Unit will be looking at other incidents in other matches during the course of the remaining 10 games of the tournament."
Sri Lanka 292-6 (50 overs) beat Holland 86 all out (29.2 overs) by 206 runs
Scorecard | Match report
Marvan Atapattu hit a century and Muttiah Muralitharan took four wickets as Sri Lanka became the first side to book an ICC Champions Trophy semi-final spot with a 206-run win over Holland.
The Dutch, playing in just their sixth full one-day international, gave good account in the field even though their hosts managed to reach 292 for six.
But their batsmen were dazzled by the floodlights in the day-night clash at Premadasa Stadium, bowled out for 86 within 30 overs.
Muralitharan was only brought into the attack in the 19th over, by which time Holland had struggled to 59 for seven.
But he finished with figures of four for 15 off 5.3 overs, including a six smashed by tailender Edgar Schiferli.
Only Tim de Leede topped Schiferli's 15, striking five boundaries in an innings of 31 before becoming one of four batsmen caught behind by Kumar Sangakkara.
Opening bowler Pulasti Gunaratne and off-spinner Kumar Dharmasena took two wickets each.
India have allowed seven leading players, including batting star Sachin Tendulkar, to fly home for a four-day break in the middle of the ICC Champions Trophy tournament.
Tendulkar, skipper Sourav Ganguly, seam bowlers Ajit Agarkar and Ashish Nehra, spinner Anil Kumble and batsmen Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman have gone home to visit their families.
But they are all due to return to Sri Lanka two days before Sunday's game against England.
"The players returned with the board's permission," said Niranjan Shah, secretary of the Indian Board of Control.
"Since all of them were in England for two months and had to fly to Colombo immediately after reaching India, they took our permission to visit their home."
The Indian Board's decision to allow the players to go home has been approved by the International Cricket Council.
Jonty Rhodes and Nicky Boje could be rested for South Africa's pool 3 game against Kenya in the ICC Champions Trophy here on Friday.
It's not that South Africa are taking the Kenyans lightly, but the two players are nursing injuries and coach Eric Simons believes they need the rest to get over their injuries and be ready for the more important games ahead.
The South Africans won their opening pool 3 game against West Indies on Friday and are almost certain of a place in the semifinals. All they need is another win against Kenya and they will be through to meet the winner of pool 2, which includes India, Zimbabwe and England.
Rhodes hurt his hand during the Morocco Cup tournament in Tangier and has not had a break to recover, while Boje, who bowled superbly in the game against West Indies, has a hairline fracture of the right ring finger.
Both players took little part in Sunday's training session, which was mainly concerned with fielding and building stamina.
Captain Stephen Fleming believes New Zealand can still be competitive in next year's World Cup despite their record loss to Australia in the Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka.
The New Zealanders suffered a humiliating 164-run defeat on Sunday, their worst in 85 one-day games against Australia.
But Fleming does not think the loss will have too much significance when it comes to his side's chances in next February's tournament in South Africa.
"We were outclassed in a one-day match, but things can swing quite dramatically and things can go away from you in the field , " he told reporters.
"We created chances but didn't turn them over but it doesn't mean we are a bad side. It was just a bad performance."
Fleming highlighted the absence of injured all-rounder Chris Cairns, and Craig McMillan, who opted out of the Champions Trophy for personal reasons, as factors behind his side's poor showing.
Netherlands skipper Roland Lefebvre has said his team have learned a lot despite suffering a big defeat against Sri Lanka in the Champions Trophy one-day tournament.
"There were plenty of positives in the defeat," said Lefebvre after his team's 206-run rout in a day-night match at the Premadasa Stadium.
Sri Lanka scored 6-292 before dismissing the tourists for 86.
"To restrict Sri Lanka to 292 was a grand effort by our bowlers," said Lefebvre. "The wicket was flat and they could have easily run away from us, but our bowlers stuck to their task.
"We dropped a few catches. If we had luck going our way we could have restricted them to less."
Lefebvre said the lack of international exposure was the main reason for his team's defeat in the 12-nation tournament.
The Netherlands were playing only their sixth one-day international, their last big match being in the 1996 World Cup.
