5:41 AM
mamoon
Former Pakistan cricket captain Salman Butt has been jailed for 30 months for his part in the conspiracy to bowl deliberate no-balls in last year's Test match against England.
Former world number two Test bowler Mohammad Asif, 28, was jailed for one year and bowler Mohammad Amir, 19, has been sentenced to six months.
Cricket agent Mazhar Majeed was jailed for two years and eight months.
The court heard the no-balls were to show gamblers that play could be fixed.
The judge, Mr Justice Cooke, said cricket matches would forever be tainted by the scandal.
In his sentencing remarks, which have been published online, he told the defendants: "'It's not cricket' was an adage. It is the insidious effect of your actions on professional cricket and the followers of it that make the offences so serious.
Butt, 27, was ordered to pay £30,937, Amir £9,389 and Asif £8,120.
The men were arrested after the fourth Test between Pakistan and England in August 2010.
An undercover News of the World (NOTW) reporter paid Majeed £150,000 for details of the precise timing of three no-balls, which the players were persuaded to bowl, which were extremely valuable on the spot-fixing betting market.
Majeed claimed to have paid Asif £65,000, Butt £10,000 and Amir £2,500.
The judge told all the players they would be released on licence half way through their sentences if they behaved.
The trial heard that the cheating would never have been exposed without the investigative journalism of the NOTW.
The judge said: "Whenever people look back on a surprising event in a game or a surprising result, or whenever in the future there are surprising events or results, followers of the game who have paid good money to watch it live or watch it on television will be left to wonder whether there has been fixing and whether what they have been watching is a genuine contest between bat and ball."
The jailing of the players will come as a huge shock in Pakistan, where cricketers are super stars.
Butt, Asif and Majeed are thought to have been sent to Wandsworth prison in south London while Amir will serve his sentence at Feltham young offenders' institution in west London.
Amir's barrister, Henry Blaxland QC, said he would be seeking bail pending an appeal against his client's sentence.
The men were arrested after the fourth Test between Pakistan and England in August 2010.
An undercover News of the World (NOTW) reporter paid Majeed £150,000 for details of the precise timing of three no-balls, which the players were persuaded to bowl, which were extremely valuable on the spot-fixing betting market.
Majeed claimed to have paid Asif £65,000, Butt £10,000 and Amir £2,500.
The judge told all the players they would be released on licence half way through their sentences if they behaved.
The trial heard that the cheating would never have been exposed without the investigative journalism of the NOTW.
The judge said: "Whenever people look back on a surprising event in a game or a surprising result, or whenever in the future there are surprising events or results, followers of the game who have paid good money to watch it live or watch it on television will be left to wonder whether there has been fixing and whether what they have been watching is a genuine contest between bat and ball."
The jailing of the players will come as a huge shock in Pakistan, where cricketers are super stars.
Butt, Asif and Majeed are thought to have been sent to Wandsworth prison in south London while Amir will serve his sentence at Feltham young offenders' institution in west London.
Amir's barrister, Henry Blaxland QC, said he would be seeking bail pending an appeal against his client's sentence.
Posted in: Cricket News,news
0 comments:
Post a Comment