September 12, 2006	Tuesday	Sha'aban 18, 1427

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

KARACHI, Sept 11: After completing a troubled tour of England, Pakistan cricket team is scheduled to arrive home in the wee hours of Tuesday. The team is scheduled to land in the city at around 4.30am by Emirates Airline flight No EK-604 after a brief stopover in Dubai.

Although Pakistan lost the four-match Test series 3-0 and had to share the one-day series 2-2 with one game abandoned, the England tour was blighted by The Oval controversy when Australian umpire Darrell Hair alleged that Inzamam-ul-Haq’s side had been involved in ball-tampering during last month’s final Test.

The accusation led to Pakistan becoming the first team ever in Test history to forfeit a match with Inzamam later charged by the International Cricket Council under the Code of Conduct on two counts — changing the condition of the ball (a Level 2 charge) and bringing the game into disrepute (a Level 3 offence).

The Pakistan captain is due to face a two-day ‘private’ disciplinary hearing to be conducted by Ranjan Madugalle, the ICC’s chief match referee, from Sept 27 in London.

If found guilty under Level 2 offence, Inzamam is likely to be fined between 50 to 100 per cent of his match fee or face a one Test or two-ODI ban. The punishment of Level 3 charge is a ban of two to four Tests or four to eight One-day Internationals.