Banned Pakistani trio to appear before British court in July

A British court has order banned Pakistani trio, Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, to attend their trial in July. This will be a preliminary hearing of the case filed against them by the Crown ProsecutionServices (CPS) for their alleged involvement in spot-fixing scandals.

The trio did not appear in Southwark court for a hearing on May 20.

The three players were banned by the anti-corruption tribunal of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in February after corruption charges against them were judged to be true. Each player was granted a different period of punishment.

A British judge, James Sanders, have ruled that the trio will have to ensure their availability for the July hearing.

 A news report reveals, “The judge has ordered in a note that the trio be presents in person, or, by video link for the preliminary hearing”.

Though the trial is set to open in July, the regular hearing will start on October 4.

The trio did not attend the May 20 hearing on the advice of their lawyer.

During a Test match against England in August 2010, the three players were found to be deliberately underperforming. The News of the World broke the story and after initial investigations, the players’ agent,Mazhar Majeed, was found to be the spearhead of corruption.

As per the report, Majeed accepted $242,000 to steer the players to underperform.

The three players allegedly delivered no-balls to garner defeat for their team. This was taken as a spot-fixing practice.

One of the three offenders, Butt, was leading the team in that match.

This scandal has brought great disrepute to Pakistan cricket. The image of both the board and the players has been tarnished.

However, Team Pakistan missed the trio greatly during their ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 campaign. A majority of Pakistanis and players believed that were the trio present in the team, Pakistan would have won the World Cup.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has now devised a code of conduct for the players and their agents in order to avert such type of corruption in future.

Some experts argue that the trio is unlikely to attend the July trial as they consider their punishment as unfair and unjust.

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PCB IRKED OVER CRICKET AUSTRALIA CEO JAMES SUTHERLAND'S COMMENTS

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to take strong note of Cricket Australia (CA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) James Sutherland's comments, in which he said, Pakistan was not doing enough to prevent spot-fixing in the game.

According to sources, PCB officials have complained to the ICC against Sutherland’s negative comments. He added that such bad comments undermine the impression of Pakistan cricket in the world.

The PCB official stated, “Sutherland is the serving chief executive of Cricket Australia and basically his statement is a violation of the ICC member board`s code”.

Few days back, the ICC Chief Sutherland stated that the spot-fixing in England would not have happened if Pakistan cricket had followed the measures recommended in the Justice Qayyum report.

Sutherland said that PCB should have implemented the recommendations of Qayyum Report, so that no such corruption could be possible in Pakistan cricket.

However, he added that the board has failed to follow the report and hence faced corruption such as spot-fixing in England’s tour last year.

Rather surprisingly, PCB found the backing of former India spinner, Bishen Singh Bedi, who also thought Sutherland's statement was uncalled for.

The former Indian spinner expressed, “I think it is time there was a common front against such things. Australia, England and other western boards have to realize that they cannot make such statements and maintain their holier than thou attitude”.

PCB officials further added that the matter will be taken up in ICC's next meeting in Dubai, as the Board was hurt by Sutherland's statement.  

Spot-fixing is a very serious offence, which can be found in any form of cricket. Pakistan faced controversies regarding spot-fixing during their England tour of 2010, when Pakistani players Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir, and, Mohammad Asif, were found guilty for their involvement in spot-fixing during a Test match at Lord’s. They have been banned by the ICC for at least five years from all forms of cricket.

Although many experts are of the opinion that corruption from cricket cannot be eliminated completely, yet the ICC should take maximum steps to ensure that it does not affect the game to a large extent.

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PCB keeps the banned trio out of anti-corruption lectures

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is deliberately keeping the banned-trio, Muhammad Aamir, Muhammad Asif and Salman Butt, away from the anti-corruption lectures arranged by the board to educate all cricket officials, staff and players about match-fixing and spot-fixing practices. They are liable to do so as per international rules.
The board is avoiding the inclusion of the trio in any activity since their matter is still under scrutiny and the decision to their appeal pending, but the critics term it as a biased policy.
The trio was banned by the anti-corruption tribunal of the International Cricket Council (ICC) after they were found and proved to be involved in spot-fixing practices during a series against England last year. The ban was imposed on the 5^th of February, 2011.
Following the ban, the trio filed review appeals with the International Court of arbitration for Sports and the court decision is still pending.
Thus, the appeal to their conviction is still not finalized as Wasim Bari, the head of the educational program of PCB, says, “Since the matter is subjudice we cannot even comment of it and we are not including them at any level now”.
The PCB has been under severe pressure from the international cricketing fraternity since the eruption of the fixing scandals and it has taken some positive steps recently to avert such type of corruptions in future.
A code of conduct has been devised for the player’s agents and all the players are put under strict scrutiny during their international commitments. This educational program is another revolutionary and reformative step to root out corruption that has played a key role in sanctioning international cricket in Pakistan.
The educational program, launched last month, includes lectures, question & answer sessions, and circulation of manuals containing guidelines and the code of conduct of PCB.
Bari says, “We are holding the lectures in Urdu language and the manual is also in Urdu so that the players and coaches can understand things properly”.
Most of the cricket analysts and experts are strongly recommending the inclusion of the banned trio in the educational program in order to keep them away from such type of heinous activities in future.

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New Zealand Cricket flags match-fixing incident to ICC

The Chief Executive of New Zealand Cricket, Justin Vaughan, has said that they have informed the International Cricket Council (ICC) Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) about a possible match-fixing. The alleged incident happened during an international tournament in which some players were treated to dinner by a suspicious businessman.
According to reports, Daryl Tuffey, Scott Styris and Nathan McCullum were seen with a man from Middle East, who was a famous diamond dealer and was also watched by the anti-corruption department. Some media sources have said that initially the players had no idea about that Middle-Eastern guy and his profession. They came to know about his business when he offered them some expensive gems and diamonds on discounted rates.
The New Zealand cricket team manager, Steve Wilkins, reported the incident to the New Zealand Cricket board and its Chief Executive, Justin Vaughan.
The Chief then discussed the incident with International Cricket Council and they told their ACSU to take proper action against the suspected players, who were seen along with the alleged businessman.
The players were interrogated by the ACSU of the ICC, which is headed by the former UK police officer, Sir Ronnie Flanagan. However, the players told them that they did not do anything illegal and were not under the suspicion of match-fixing at any point.
Match-fixing has been a serious issue in the cricketing world. Many examples can be seen who were allegedly involved in match-fixing and spot-fixing. The trio of Pakistan cricket team, Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were banned by ICC for their involvement in spot-fixing during their 2010 England tour. They were banned from all types of cricket for at least five years.
According to the footage made by an English tabloid, a suspected book-maker, Mazhar Majeed, was seen taking GBP150,000 in cash in a meeting. Asif and Amir bowled no-balls precisely on the times when Majeed predicted. Such information is used by betting syndicates to place their bets.
After such incidents in the past, the ICC has made sure that no such offence should be entertained in any form of cricket in the world. The ACSU is also taking serious measures to stop such alleged incidents.

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