ICC rule spot-fixing hearing to go ahead in January

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Pakistan’s suspended test captain  Salman Butt will attend a hearing into spot-fixing charges in  Doha in January after the International Cricket Council rejected  his application to adjourn proceedings.

Butt, who faces charges alongside teammates Mohammad Amir  and Mohammad Asif, had wanted to defer the ICC’s anti-corruption  tribunal hearing until after an investigation held by Scotland  Yard into the allegations had finished.

An ICC statement yesterday read:

“Mr Beloff, the chairman of the ICC anti-corruption  tribunal, following a lengthy telephone hearing and having  received written submissions, has ruled that Mr Butt’s  application is denied and as such, the full hearing will take  place as scheduled from January 6-11 2011 in Doha, Qatar.”

The three cricketers were suspended by the ICC in early  September after the News of the World newspaper claimed that  Pakistani bookmaker Mazhar Majeed had paid them bribes to bowl  no-balls deliberately in the fourth test against England at  Lords.

The ICC tribunal will hear evidence from the ICC  anti-corruption unit and decide whether to ban the players or  remove their suspensions and allow them to resume their careers.

The lawyers representing Amir and Asif had not supported  Butt’s plea. “We want a decision on the suspensions and  allegations against my client soon,” Amir’s lawyer Shahid Karim  told Geo Super channel. “Asif’s lawyer has also not supported this move,” he added.