Michael Atherton expresses sympathy for Mohammad Amir – Cricket News Update
Former English skipper, Michael Atherton, believes that Mohammad Amir, the 19-year-old cricketer from Pakistan, deserves a second chance to play after serving the ban imposed on him by the International Cricket Council.
The Southwark Crown Court, on Thursday, November 3, 2011, sentenced Amir to serve six months in young offender’s institute, after the cricketer pleaded guilty of spot fixing.
Sympathizing with the tainted pacer, Atherton expressed, “I think there are different circumstances, if you listen to the court judgement it was clear that the Amir was led into the corruption particularly by his captain. The captain
had a strong influence over him.”
The former skipper of England divulged that there is no evidence that there has been any fixing on Amir’s part prior to Lord’s Test. Atherton continued that the International Cricket Council (ICC) themselves have said that Amir
was never under suspicions before the summer of 2010 and this is a one-off event.
Atherton maintains the bowler was pushed into bowling no balls in the Lord’s Test by the then skipper of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 cricket team, Salman Butt, and it was not the other way around.
The 43-year-old feels that all three cricketers involved in rigging got a stiff punishment. Atherton holds true that Muhammad Asif and Butt’s cricketing career is now over, as the duo have been forbidden from playing cricket for
seven and ten years respectively.
However, the Englishman was confident that Amir will find a way into his International side once the ban is lifted.
“Once, he has served his ban and once he has served his custodial sentence, there is no technical reason why he shouldn’t be allowed back in the game,” rants Atherton.
The 43-year-old admitted that the youngster did make a mistake but http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 should give him another shot to make amends for his earlier mistakes.
Asserting that such players should not be neglected, Atherton said, “In fact, welcome them back to the game. There’s got to be a chance for young people who make mistakes to have a second chance in life. You can’t just make a mistake
at 18 and say that it- done and dusted.
But whether he’ll be fit mentally or physically or in a state to come back is yet to be seen.”
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