Sport

Pakistani cricketers guilty of spot fixing

05:53 am on 2 November 2011

The Pakistani cricketers Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif have been found guilty of fixing part of a test match against England in a case that prosecutors say revealed rampant corruption at the heart of international cricket.

27 year old Butt, a former Pakistan captain, and 28 year old Asif, plotted to bowl deliberate no-balls at pre-arranged times during the Lord's test in August last year.

The pair men will be sentenced later this week, and they have already been banned from playing by the International Cricket Council for a minimum of five years.

Another pace bowler Mohammad Amir admitted similar charges prior to the trial.

All three players are facing the real prospect of jail terms as conspiracy to accept corrupt payments carries a maximum jail term of seven years.

The scam was exposed by an undercover reporter from the now defunct News of the World newspaper.

The guilty verdicts came on the day Salman Butt's wife Gul gave birth to their second son in Lahore.