London : Tainted Pakistani cricketers Salman
Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, who were accused of
spot-fixing during the Test match against England at Lord's
last year, will face trial on October 4 in London. Justice John Saunders today set the date of their trial
at the latest hearing,
where prosecutors revealed that they
are trying to acquire transcripts from part of the ICC's
anti-corruption tribunal. The trio were allegedly involved in bowling predetermined
no-balls during the Test match against England last August and
were subsequently banned for a minimum of five years by ICC's
anti-corruption tribunal. Butt, Asif and Amir and their agent Mazhar Majeed, who
have been charged with conspiracy to cheat and accept corrupt
payments, weren't present at Southwark Crown Court today. The incident came to light last August when a British
tabloid exposed that the players received huge sum of money
for deliberately bowling no-balls during the fourth Test
against England. Butt, who was the captain during the series, received a
further suspended five-year ban and pacers Asif and Amir were
handed a further two-year suspended sanction. Majeed is accused of accepting USD 242,000 during a sting
by undercover newspaper reporters to arrange for the players
to bowl no-balls. PTI