Pakistan pair punished for breaking curfew

The tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya by Pakistan Academy, so successful on the field, has been tarnished by a report that two of the team have been accused of breaking the team's curfew and were seen at a Nairobi nightclub in the early hours of Friday morning.

Local reports say that opening batsman Ahmed Shehzad and fast bowler Anwar Ali were spotted at the club after midnight despite the management imposing a strict 11pm curfew. Shahzad was fined $400 and banned for two matches while Ali was fined $200 and banned for Sunday's match against Kenya.

"The players said that they never visited any disco and just went out with some local friend for dinner," Haroon Rasheed, the team manager, told the News. "I've completed the probe and found the players guilty.

"I'm really shocked to know that they were partying so late in the night," Haroon said. "It's a bit unbelievable too because we just arrived in Nairobi at about 11.30 on Thursday night and I thought the boys would have been too tired to venture out ... especially because of the fact that we had played a one-day game in Mombasa earlier in the day."

Rasheed added that the situation was compounded by the fact the club was a fair distance from the team's hotel. "I'm really upset at the boys because they've not only violated the code of conduct but also risked being mugged because Nairobi is a dangerous city after dark."