Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif Plead Not Guilty as Match fixing Trial Gets Underway

Even as cricket has moved on, the ugly incident of spot fixing as a variant of match fixing remained firmly in the spotlight with the three Pakistan cricketers now facing the Southwark Crown court over the charges.

Salman Butt

The issue of bowling no balls at pre designated moments in the match was exposed by a sting operation by the News of the World tabloid during Pakistan’s tour of England last year when they managed to fox Mazhar Majeed, the Pakistan player agent cum bookie, into revealing what has turned out to be damaging information that plunged cricket into the dark ages ten years after the match fixing broke out.

Although Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif appeared in the Southwark Crown Court, facing charges of corruption and of taking bribes in order to manipulate the game. In a first of its kind, although both the Pakistan cricketers have individually put forth their appeal as not guilty to the charges, there is conjecture after the ICC deemed them guilty that should the jury fail to side with the two cricketers, they could face a situation of a hefty fine as well as imprisonment.

Incidentally Mohammad Aamer, the younger Pakistan of the trio that were banned by the ICC over the spot fixing incident, was not present in court and neither was Majeed although speculation has been rife that both of them have already confessed to their role in the deed and that their confession is likely to draw a verdict at the end of the court hearing.

For cricket, this is another low point irrespective of what the verdict will be because this is unprecedented not only the matter in which the players were exposed but in how the matter in proceeding now beyond the cricket field, only further highlighting the gravity of the problem that plagues the sport.