Pakistan players charged with corruption

Pakistan cricketers Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt and an agent have been charged with corruption offences, England’s prosecution service said yesterday.

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

The newspaper alleged the players had colluded in a spot-fixing betting scam organised by agent Mazhar Majeed.

The three Pakistan players had been asked to appear in court in London on March 17. They have been told to return “voluntarily” to Britain for the hearing or prosecutors will seek their extradition.

Britain-based Majeed must also appear on the same date at the same court, City of Westminster Magistrates.

The Pakistan trio, who have all repeatedly denied wrongdoing, are currently provisionally suspended from international cricket.

But a separate International Cricket Council (ICC) tribunal is due to announce the conclusions from its own probe into the matter in Doha today.

Cricket is potentially extremely vulnerable to ‘spot-fixing’ – betting can be planned around specific incidents without the need to manipulate the result.