The players are now being investigated for unprofessional behaviour and allegedly ``throwing'' matches, including the final against Australia. Pakistan's anti-corruption squad has launched an inquiry into repeated late-night visits by team members to casinos and nightclubs. Players gambled and drank alcohol, both of which are forbidden by Islamic law, and flouted team curfews during their late-night revelry.

Batsman Ijaz Ahmed was in the Barracuda casino in central London at 3.50 am last Saturday morning, less than 36 hours before Sunday's final. The team also enjoyed nights out at the Palm Beach casino in Mayfair.

Investigators are focusing on the team's abysmal showing in the final at Lord's. Pakistanlooked tired and uninspired as they slumped to 132 all out after only 39 of their 50 overs. The result prompted claims that Pakistan, who have recently been involved in several match-fixing scandals, had been bribed to lose. Pakistan's earlier defeats by arch-rivals India and lowly Bangladesh are also being examined, as are ``charges against the players'' conduct and character''.

The secret service agents from the intelligence bureau began tailing the players after suspicions that they had not tried hard enough in a warm-up match against England in Sharjah last month. During the World Cup, Pakistan players were observed indulging in what the anti-corruption bureau called ``merry-making''.

Saifur Rehman, head of the bureau, told The Observer it had received information that ``a number of squad members did not follow the proper procedures laid down by the management. They were having late nights and engaging in a number of extracurricular activities...They were in nightclubs and in different placesin the evenings. We have intelligence that they were going there regularly.''

Rehman confirmed that gambling expeditions and the consumption of alcohol were also being investigated. The team's official curfew of 10 pm or 10.30 pm, was regularly broken. Players often returned to their hotel in the early hours.

Rehman, a close aide of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has appointed a senior officer to conduct the inquiry. The officer suggested that the match-fixing claims may have substance when he said the players were believed ``not to have acted professionally'' when they went on to the field. ``There are also reports that they were not physically and mentally fit when on the ground or on their rest days.''

Pakistan team manager Zafar Altaf said claims of match-rigging were baseless. ``Wasim yesterday insisted there had been `no indecent behaviour whatsoever before the final. Everyone was behaving themselves'. But former Pakistan fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz, who is renowned for exposingmatch-rigging, said he was sure several Pakistan games, including the final, were ``fixed''.

-- The Sunday Observer