Pakistan High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan believes the ICC was wrong to suspend the three Pakistan players under investigation for ‘spot-fixing’ (Pakistan 5/4 to win first T20).

Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir have been charged under Article 2 of the ICC Anti-Corruption Code for Players and Player Support Personnel and will play no part in the rest of the tour of England.

The incidents occurred in the fourth Test at Lord’s, when both Amir and Asif allegedly bowled no-balls ‘to order’ as part of a betting scam, which was unearthed by the News of the World.

The Pakistan authorities believe their star trio may have been ‘set up’ and want the police to deal with the matter but the ICC have taken matters into their own hands by charging the three players involved.

Wajid believes the game’s governing body has made a mistake in getting involved and they should have let the British police conclude their inquiries before taking any decisions.

“They (the ICC) have done the wrong thing,” he said. “When there is a live police inquiry this takes precedence over both the ICC, civil or regulatory investigation and indeed any internal disciplinary investigation.

“To take action now is of course unhelpful, premature and unnecessary considering the players had already voluntarily withdrawn from playing.”

Pakistan will continue their tour with the first of two T20s at Cardiff on Sunday under the leadership of Shahid Afridi, who led his side to an eight-run victory over Somerset in a 50-over one-day match at Taunton on Thursday (Pakistan 8/1 to win World Cup).