The captain of Addington 1743, the Surrey league club who included banned Pakistan seamer Mohammad Amir in their team, has been suspended for five matches. Ijaz Raja was in charge when Amir – banned from all cricket for five years following his role in the Lord’s spot-fixing scandal last summer – played in a league match in June, scoring 60 and taking four for nine against St Lukes.
Raheal Shafi, Addington’s league representative, also received a five-game ban, with the club hit by a suspended expulsion order until the end of 2013. According to Mail, a statement from the Surrey Cricket League said Addington, one of England’s oldest clubs, had ‘facilitated the player breaching his ICC ban.
It is considered that the club have thereby brought the game of cricket in general, and in particular in this instance, the name of the SCL into disrepute’. Amir, 19, claimed at the time he thought he was playing in a friendly match that would not contravene his worldwide ban. He is waiting to hear whether his participation in the match will affect the length of his exile. The game in question has been awarded to St Lukes, with Addington docked 20 points.
