Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir And Salman Butt Jailed For Cricket Match Fixing Scam

Pakistan Cricketers Jailed For Match Fixing Scam

Three Pakistani cricketers and an agent have been jailed for intentionally throwing no-balls during a Test match against England last year.

Bowler Mohammad Asif, the former world number two, was jailed for one year, fast bowler Mohammad Amir was jailed for six months and the former Pakistan Test cricket captain Salman Butt was jailed for 30 months.

Cricket agent Mazhar Majeed was jailed for two years and eight months.

Butt and Asif were found guilty of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday.

Amir had pleaded guilty to both charges at a pre-trial hearing in September, Majeed also pleaded guilty.

The prosecution focused on three no-balls delivered in the 26 to 29 August Test match between England and Pakistan.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Cooke said the men had damaged the image of the game.

He said: "'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.

"The image and integrity of what was once a game but is now a business is damaged in the eyes of all, including the many youngsters who regarded you as as heroes and would have given their eye teeth to play at the levels and with the skills that you had.

"Now 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.

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