http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Salman-Butt-c2418 challenge ICC bans in International Court of Arbitration
Banned Pakistani cricketers Salman Butt and Mohammad Aamer have challenged the bans imposed on them by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Their lawyers have filed cases in the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS) to revoke or decrease
their sentences.
Butt was banned for 10 years by the ICC with a five-year suspension period. On the other hand, Aamer received a five-year ban. The third player to be banned was fast bowler http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Asif-c1993, who was banned for seven years, with a two-year suspension period.
However, Asif hasn’t filed any case as yet against the ban imposed on him.
The trio was charged for spot-fixing in a Test match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c749 at Lords last year. After the evidence collected by the ICC’s anti-corruption tribunal and hearings attended by the players’ lawyers, lengthy bans were handed down to the players, which
dented Pakistani cricket badly.
The players were also charged of accepting illegal payments and they will be facing a court in England on 17th March for the case.
The decision of ICC’s tribunal to ban the players was followed by some mixed reactions of former players and experts. Many claimed that the ban was too harsh whereas some others said the players should have been banned for life if proven guilty.
Former Pakistani cricketer Abdul Qadir claimed that the ban was not justified as the players weren’t involved in a big crime. He was disappointed over the decision to ban Aamer since many people had been expecting leniency for the relatively inexperienced
and young player. Qadir said the five-year ban for bowling just one no-ball was too harsh.
On the other hand, former English captain Michael Vaughan said the ICC had missed a chance to cleanse the game from corruption completely. He said if players like Aamer and Butt return to cricket, it would not leave a good image on youngsters watching the
game.
The banned players were confident that the ICAS would clear them of the charges since they had not committed any wrongdoing.
Even if the players do get cleared, damage has been done to the image of cricket in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 and the absence of such key players will hurt the chances of the Men in Green in the ICC World Cup 2011.
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