Scotland Yard detectives have confiscated the mobile phones of three of the Pakistan cricket team's leading players as part of an investigation into one of the biggest betting scandals in the sport's history. The cricketers, captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, were questioned along with wicket keeper Kamran Akmal by detectives following allegations that they were involved in a betting scandal during the Lord's Test match, won by England. As well as the phones, detectives took away documents and other possessions in plastic bags. The allegations centre on the timing of three no-balls - where the bowler oversteps the line - delivered by Amir and Asif during the game. Undercover reporters from the News of the World, posing as representatives of a far east gambling cartel", allegedly paid a middleman 150,000 and in return were told exactly when the balls would be bowled. The England captain, Andrew Strauss, said he was "absolutely astonished" by the allegations. "There was no prior warning or anything like that First astonished, then pretty saddened straight away."
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