Jury retires in fixing trial

London - Jurors in the spot-fixing trial involving Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif will resume deliberating next week after they were unable to reach a verdict on Friday.

The 12-person jury returned to London's Southwark Crown Court to resume considering their verdict on whether Butt and Asif plotted to ensure the deliberate bowling of no-balls in the fourth test against England in August last year.

However, it was sent home for a second straight day by Justice Jeremy Cooke, the trial judge, who has demanded the jury come to an unanimous verdict.

Butt and Asif deny conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments.

Asif's lawyer, Alexander Milne, told the court that the two players have been granted 14-day extensions to their visas, allowing them to return on Monday when the trial will resume.

The jurors spent almost the whole of the 18th day of the case locked away in a room adjacent to the court.

At one stage, they returned and listened again to two recordings of alleged conversations between Butt and his agent Mazhar Majeed, who is accused of conspiring with the two Pakistan players and one of their team-mates — Mohammad Amir — to deliver the no-balls.

The undercover reporter who taped the recordings worked for the News of the World, the now-defunct British tabloid that broke the scandal.

The trial will now enter its fourth week.