The trio, who has said they are innocent, face possible
life bans after allegations that they arranged for Aamer and Asif to bowl no
balls at a pre-arranged point in the fourth test against England at Lord's, a
practice known as spot-fixing.
It is the most serious crisis to hit world cricket since
the match-fixing scandal 10 years ago.

Deliberately manipulating incidents
within a match when one or more players agree to under-perform. For example, a
bowler might bowl consecutive wides with the first two deliveries of his second
over or a batsman could make sure he does not reach double figures.
Gamblers also bet on "brackets," events within
a 10-over spell such as the number of runs a team will score in that period.
The incidents in themselves can seem trivial and may not
affect the result of the match. Twenty20 cricket, which has blossomed over the
past five years, is seen as particularly vulnerable to spot fixing.

Because of its all-action nature, with wickets tumbling
and runs scored at breakneck speed, individual incidents are quickly forgotten.
Tim May, the chief executive of the international
players' union FICA, is one of several influential figures in the game who
believes that the sheer number of Twenty20 matches now being played could tempt
players to take money from bookmakers in return for spot fixing.

Betting on cricket matches from around the
world televised in India is a hugely lucrative business. Gamblers or bookmakers
can cash in if they know in advance what a particular bowler or batsman is
going to do. Bets are placed on every delivery in a 50- or 20-overs match and
players can accept bribes to fix incidents.
Only betting on horse racing at track side is allowed in
India but in practice around half of a market worth billions of dollars is
estimated to be illegal betting, mostly on cricket.
Although betting is illegal in Pakistan, a Muslim
country, it is a thriving underworld industry in Karachi and Lahore.

Rumors have abounded since the advent of the Indian
Premier League (IPL) T20 tournament two years ago although nobody has ever been
charged. During last year's Ashes tour of England an Australian player reported
that he had been approached by a suspected illegal bookmaker in the team's
London hotel.
Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif said he believed
matches in the now defunct Indian Cricket League, also a T20 tournament, had
been fixed.

Three international
captains Hansie Cronje (South Africa), Salim Malik (Pakistan) and Mohammed
Azharuddin (India) were banned for life in 2000 for helping to influence the
results of matches.
Match fixing had become established in one-day cricket in
the 1990s and suspicion centered, in particular, on the one-day tournaments
staged at Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.
As a result the ICC founded its Anti-Corruption and
Security Unit (ACSU) to monitor all international matches. The ACSU monitored
the third IPL tournament in India this year but not the second in South Africa
last year because the Indian board thought the fee charged by the ICC was too
high.