ICC tribunal bans Pakistan Test captain Salman Butt for 10 years

18-year-old fast bowler Mohammad Amir gets minimum five-year ban but Salman Butt's international career is effectively over

Cricket's credibility suffered a severe blow last night after three Test players from Pakistan were found guilty of corruption by an independent tribunal.

The career of Pakistan's 26-year-old-captain, Salman Butt, appears to be finished after he received a 10-year ban from the sport. Mohammad Asif was handed a seven-year ban that will keep him out until he is 35.

The third player, Mohammad Amir, can realistically harbour hopes that he will one day return to the sport. The 18-year-old fast bowler's youth appears to have favoured him when he received the minimum tariff for the offence: a five-year ban. Even so, his legal team announced yesterday that he will appeal against the suspension.

The International Cricket Council (ICC), the world governing body, confirmed that it had imposed the suspensions after charges under its anti-corruption code were proved.

The decision came a day after the Crown Prosecution Service announced that the players, along with their agent Mazhar Majeed, would face criminal charges in the UK.

Butt, Asif and Amir have been charged with conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments and conspiracy to cheat, although they have strongly denied any wrongdoing.

The matter relates to a series of no-balls bowled during Pakistan's fourth Test at Lord's in August. The ICC had said it would press charges against the trio after it received evidence from the News of the World that the no-balls had been bowled to order. Undercover reporters allegedly paid 150,000 in cash to Mr Majeed, who was filmed by a hidden camera, apparently confirming exactly when the balls would be bowled.

Exact information on when no-balls might occur in an innings can be exploited by gamblers betting on the specialist markets offered by some bookmakers.

Yesterday, the ICC released a statement from Michael Beloff, QC, ch! airman o f the independent tribunal which heard the case for six days in the Qatari city of Doha in January, detailing the punishments. It said: "The tribunal found that the charge under Article 2.1.1 of the Code that Mr Butt agreed to bat out a maiden over in the Oval Test match played between Pakistan and England from 18 to 21 August 2010 was dismissed, whereas the charge under Article 2.4.2 that Mr Butt failed to disclose to the ICC's ACSU (Anti-Corruption and Security Unit) the approach by Mr Majeed that Mr Butt should bat a maiden over in the Oval Test was proved.

"The tribunal found that the charges under Article 2.1.1 of the Code that (respectively) Mr Asif agreed to bowl and did bowl a deliberate no-ball in the Lord's Test match played between Pakistan and England from 26 to 29 August 2010, Mr Amir agreed to bowl and did bowl two deliberate no-balls in the same Test, and Mr Butt was party to the bowling of those deliberate no-balls, were proved."


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