Three Pakistan cricketers who allegedly accepted cash to deliberately bowl no-balls during a Lord's Test match have been handed long bans from the sport.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed it has imposed suspensions on Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir after charges under the ICC's anti-corruption code were proved.
Former Pakistan captain Butt has been banned for 10 years, five of which are suspended. Mohammad Asif has been banned for seven years, two of which are suspended, while Mohammad Amir has been banned for five years.
The ICC bans come a day after the trio were told they would have to appear in a British court charged with cheating bookmakers.
Butt, Asif and Amir - who were questioned by Scotland Yard detectives over the alleged match-fixing scandal last August - will be charged with conspiring to cheat bookmakers, along with agent Mazhar Majeed, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Friday.
Michael Beloff QC, who chaired the three-man anti-corruption tribunal in Doha, found the charge that Butt had failed to disclose an approach from player agent Mazhar Majeed to bat out a maiden over in the third Test against England at The Oval in August as proved, although a charge that he agreed to bat out a maiden over was dismissed.
Charges under article 2.1.1 of the ICC's anti-corruption code against Asif and Amir - that they had agreed to and did bowl one no-ball and two no-balls respectively in the Lord's Test against England last year - were proved, as was the fact that Butt was party to the bowling of those no-balls as captain.
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.
Mr Beloff said in a statement released by the ICC: "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 (Anti-Corruption and Security Unit) the approach by Mr Majeed that Mr Butt should bat a maiden over in the Oval Test was proved.
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"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."
