The banned former Test captain Salman Butt has reportedly admitted his role in the 2010 Lord’s spot-fixing scandal to the Pakistan Cricket Board’s chairman Sheharyar Khan in a bid to make an early return to domestic cricket.
A report by the Press Trust of India on Wednesday morning said that Butt – who is currently serving a 10-year suspension from cricket, the last five years of which are suspended – had “expressed his complete regret and was willing to cooperate totally with the ICC” during the meeting with Khan on Tuesday.
Butt, who served seven months in Canterbury Prison in Kent after being found guilty of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments, has privately confirmed the details of the report, which stated his admission to instructing fast bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif to bowl no-balls during the fourth Test against England in August 2010.
The International Cricket Council last month cleared Amir, who unlike Butt and Asif pleaded guilty at the 2011 trial, to play club cricket in Pakistan in advance of his international suspension expiring on 2 September this year and he has since turned out for Shah Faisal Cricket Club in Lahore. He is expected to play Grade II cricket – one level below first-class – for the Karachi side Omar Associates in the Patron’s Trophy national tournament that begins in March.
By admitting to his guilt, 30-year-old Butt is hoping the PCB will present a similar case for him to enter the ICC’s rehabilitation programme and play domestically before September. Butt has previously gone on record in 2013 to apologise to those “disappointed” by his actions, however his board have since voiced their dissatisfaction with both him and Asif over their lack of genuine remorse.
Whether this new confession is enough to sway the head of the ICC’s anti-corruption unit Sir Ronnie Flanagan to give Butt similar dispensation to Amir remains to be seen. Speaking about his decision to allow Amir’s return seven months early, the former chief constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary said: “I was determined in coming to my conclusion not to set any precedent that others may somehow take advantage of.”
