LAHORE: Former Captain Salman Butt on Sunday said that he was disappointed by the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) decision.
Talking to the media after arriving at the Lahore airport, Butt said that the ICC laws that banned him, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir need to be amended.
Updated from print edition (below)
ICC ban: Tainted trio out for 5 years
Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt and fast-bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif have been suspended for at least five years after they were found guilty of corruption by an International Cricket Council (ICC) independent anti-corruption tribunal hearing in Doha.
After nine hours of deliberations, the ICC tribunal – comprising Michael Beloff QC, Sharad Rao and Justice Albie Sachs – announced a sanction of ten years of ineligibility to play any form of international cricket for Salman Butt with five years of a suspended sentence; seven years for Mohammad Asif with two years suspended sentence and five years’ ineligibility for Mohammad Amir.
The trio was accused of ‘spot-fixing’ offences in the fourth Test against England at Lord’s while Butt was also under suspicion for his batting in the Oval Test match. ‘Spot-fixing’ involves players agreeing to take specific actions at specific points during the game, on which people have placed bets.
Amir and Asif were found guilty of bowling two no-balls and one no-ball respectively, at the behest of Mazhar Majeed, the players’ agent who offered bribes to each of the players, as well as Salman Butt who was also involved. The two players were found to have deliberately overstepped their mark while bowling deliveries during the Test match played at Lords Cricket Ground in London between August 26 and 29, 2010.
Butt was also found guilty of having failed to disclose being approached by Majeed before the Test match at the Oval cricket ground in London, played between 18 and 21 August 2010, though the ICC acquitted him of the charge of having deliberately not scored during an over in his innings.
Each of the players was penalised with a minimum of a five year sentence. Asif and Butt can have the remainder of their sentences suspended, provided they both complete an anti-corruption education program under the supervision of the Pakistan Cricket Board and have no further disciplinary problems.
The ICC had stated before the hearings that it would seek the maximum of a life ban on each of the players. The tribunal’s decision amounts to a compromise between the ICC’s maximalist position and the calls for leniency by the attorneys for the players.
Both the players and the ICC can appeal the decision at the Court of Arbitration in Sport in Switzerland. ESPN Cricinfo, a cricket news website, reports that Amir may already plan on appealing the decision regarding his suspension from international cricket.
In recent months, there had been speculation that Amir would be treated leniently by the tribunal on account of his age (18) and his previously unblemished disciplinary record. The young player had widely been recognised as one of the most exciting new bowlers from Pakistan. Wasim Akram went so far as to say that Amir was better than he was at age 18.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 6th, 2011.
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