The head of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Ijaz Butt, says he has strong evidence of match-fixing by two former cricketers. Butt said Friday the evidence was provided by the International Cricket Council to previous officials of the cricket board. Butt took over as PCB chairman in October 2008. Without revealing the names of the cricketers, Butt told the Associated Press that the two players are not on the cricket board's current list of available players or the national team. Life bans were imposed in 2000 on former Pakistani Test captain Salim Malik and paceman Ata-ur-Rehman for match-fixing, though the bans were overturned on appeal. Akhtar, Tanvir out Pakistan has omitted fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar from a 30-man preliminary squad for the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies this year. Butt said Akhtar, 34, had not been considered because he had not played any international cricket since last May and had only recently resumed playing domestic cricket. Pakistan is the defending champion after beating Sri Lanka in the final of last year's World Cup at Lord's. Butt also ruled out injured fast bowler Sohail Tanvir from the event. “Tanvir will undergo knee surgery in Australia and the doctors are not sure when he will regain the fitness,” Butt said in Lahore. Tanvir, the 25-year-old left-arm paceman, was part of the Pakistan team which won the Twenty20 World Cup in England last year. Butt said the final 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup - beginning in the West Indies on April 30 - will be announced on March 8. Butt also said that former fast bowler Waqar Younis had been offered the job of national coach after Pakistan lost all its Test and limited overs internationals on its recent tour of Australia. “We would like to see him take charge, we have made him an offer and we are now waiting for a reply from him,” Butt said. Probables: Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, Khalid Latif, Mohammad Hafeez, Salman Butt, Shahzeb Hasan, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Fawad Alam, Naveed Yasin, Hasan Raza, Kamran Younis, Misbah-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi, Yasir Arafat, Hammad Azam, Rana Naved, Umar Gul, Mohammad Aamir, Mohammad Asif, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Sami, Saeed Ajmal, Raza Hasan, Abdul Rehman, Zulqarnain Haider, Kamran Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed. Ashraful left out Bangladesh has overlooked former captain Mohammad Ashraful and batsman Raqibul Hassan in naming a 13-man squad for three one-day internationals against England, the Bangladesh Cricket Board said on Thursday. The series begins with a day-night match in Dhaka on Sunday. Squad: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Mushfiqur Rahim (vice-captain), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Zunaed Siddique, Aftab Ahmed, Mahmudullah, Naeem Islam, Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam and Mohammad Sohrawordhi.
