Mohammad Asif withdraws ICC suspension appeal

CRICKET: PARIS, Oct 23, (AFP) - The International Cricket Council said Friday that Pakistan’s fast bowler Mohammad Asif had withdrawn his challenge to the provisional suspension handed down last month for alleged match-fixing. Teammates Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir have appealed against their own provisional suspensions and their hearings are still set for Dubai on 30 and 31 October.

“Mohammad Asif confirmed earlier today that he has withdrawn his challenge to the provisional suspension imposed on him on 2 September 2010 pending determination of the charges brought against him under the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Code,” the ICC said.

“Arrangements are now being made for the challenges being made by Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir against their provisional suspensions,” an ICC statement read, the organisation adding it would not make any further comment for the time being. The trio were charged with offences under the ICC’s anti-corruption code after test captain Butt and fast bowlers Aamer and Asif were all named in a News of the World report alleging they were involved in a “spot-fixing” scam by bowling deliberate no-balls in a summer Test match with England in exchange for cash.

ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat had warned that the sport had to take a tough stand to preserve cricket’s integrity, noting that such offences “carry serious penalties up to a life ban.”

The News of the World claimed that Amir and Asif had bowled no-balls on request during the fourth Test at the Brit Oval, with Butt orchestrating the alleged fix.

Scotland Yard was called in and the trio had their mobile phones confiscated by police investigators.

Further allegations dogged the subsequent one-day series between England and Pakistan. The panel set to hear the remaining appeals is to be chaired by the head of the ICC’s Code of Conduct Commission Michael Beloff QC. Owing to their suspensions, the trio had been left out of Pakistan’s upcoming tour of the United Arab Emirates, where they will meet South Africa.