Pakistani cricketers banned

Doha - An anti-corruption tribunal of the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Saturday banned former Pakistan captain Salman Butt for ten years, Mohammad Asif for seven years and Mohammad Aamer for five years for their role in a spot-fixing betting scam.

A statement read out at the tribunal said: "The tribunal heard the charges as Aamer agreed to bowl no-balls, and did bowl no-balls and Butt was party to the bowling of those deliberate balls, and the tribunal imposes the following sanctions.

"On Butt, ten years ineligibility, five years of which are suspended on the condition that he doesn't commit further breaches of the code, and that he participates under the auspices Pakistan Cricket Board in a programme of anti-corruption education.

"On Asif, a sanction of seven years of ineligibility, two years of which are suspended on the condition that he commits no further breach of the code and also participates in an anti-corruption programme.

"On Aamer a sanction of five years ineligibility. No further sanctions are imposed on any player."

The decisions came after a lengthy nine-hour hearing at the Qatar Financial Center, and following much argument, after the players' lawyers requested the verdict be adjourned as it could affect the criminal case against the players in London.

The charges relate to alleged incidents during a Test match against England at Lord's last year, when Britain's News of the World newspaper claimed the players were willing to deliberately bowl no-balls.

The newspaper alleged the players, who are currently provisionally suspended from international cricket, had colluded in a spot-fixing betting scam organised by British-based agent Mazhar Majeed.

The members of the tribunal, headed by Michael Beloff, heard the case for six days last month, before deferring the announcement on the request of players' lawyers.

Last month Beloff revealed that while Asif and Aamer were absolved of the charges relating to another match, the third Test at The Oval (played before the Lord's match) one charge against Butt remained under investigation.

In a separate development on Friday, British prosecutors charged the three players, as well as their agent, with corruption offences and summoned them in court on March 17.

The Pakistan trio have repeatedly denied wrongdoing, and had shown confidence of resuming their careers.

The bans on Pakistan players have come just a fortnight before the tenth World Cup starts on the sub-continent, highlighting the difficult times the game of cricket is facing against corruption.

Cricket was badly hit by the menace of match-fixing in 2000, resulting in life bans on Pakistan's Salim Malik and Ata-ur Rehman, India's Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Sharma and South Africa's Hansie Cronje.

Butt, Aamer and Asif became the first players banned in spot-fixing, the latest innovation, in which players obey specific orders during the game pre-arranged with bookmakers.

The players have 21 days to appeal against the sanctions in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, based in Switzerland.