ICC Slaps 10 Year Ban on Salman Butt, 7 for Asif and 5 for Aamer over Spot fixing

A day after the three suspended Pakistan cricketers was asked to present themselves in court in the UK on the 17th of March, the ICC has declared the three players guilty, handing them varying degrees of ban.

salman butt with mohammad aamer

The saga of the spot fixing arrives at a conclusion as far as the ICC is concerned. The ICC anti corruption tribunal held up the argument that Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer indulged in spot fixing during the Lord's Test while Pakistan were on the tour of England midway last year.

Michael Beloff, who presided over the hearing, announced the following verdict and this was the crux of his statement:

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 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.

We impose the following sanctions:

On Mr Butt a sanction of ten years ineligibility, five years of which are suspended on condition that he commits no further breach of the code and that he participates under the auspices of the Pakistan Cricket Board in a programme of Anti-Corruption education.

On Mr Asif a sanction of seven years ineligibility two years of which are suspended on condition that he commits no further breach of the code and that he participates under the auspices of the Pakistan Cricket Board in a programme of Anti-Corruption education.

On Mr Amir sanction of five years of ineligibility.

No further sanctions are imposed on any player and no orders are made as to costs.

The players did go into the hearing knowing that the odds were staked against them. While they maintained their innocence, the ICC has clearly not bought that argument, leading to these heavy sanctions on all three cricketers, and holding Salman Butt most culpable for his liaison with Mazhar Majeed and acting contrary to his captaincy.