Salman Butt, the former Pakistan captain, pleaded for a revival of his cricket career, frozen by a long ban for spot-fixing in the infamous Lord’s Test against England in 2010.
All I want is an opportunity to get back into cricket whilst I am still young, said Salman Butt. © Getty Images
Butt, 28 years old, was banned for ten years, with the possibility of five suspended, for his role in arranging no-balls to order in the match, but will appeal against the sentence at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Friday.
Butt, who was jailed by a British court over the scandal, said the suspension was a career-ending punishment.
“It may be easy for some people to say that a five-year ban from cricket is all right but what they don’t realise is that for a sportsman like me, this is like a lifetime ban,” said Butt in a statement issued by his lawyer. “My whole family and my life is disturbed.”
The International Cricket Council (ICC) banned butt, along with Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, in 2011 after being found guilty of deliberately contriving no-balls.
Aamer, banned for five years, pleaded guilty in court and decided not to appeal against the ICC ban, while Asif appeared at the CAS on Thursday to contest his ban of seven years, with the possibility of two suspended.
Matthieu Reeb, head of the Swiss-based tribunal, said the hearing was due to end at 6:00 pm local time (1700 GMT), and that fast bowler Asif was there in person to fight his case.
“It’s a high-profile case of two world-class players with the whole cricket world focused on it and we will fight to get the ban overturned,” said Ravi Sukul, Asif’s lawyer, earlier this week. “Asif was a terrific bowler and it was terribly unfortunate that a bowler of his class suffered this, but we will try our best to get this ban overturned and Asif is in high spirits.”
Butt, whose wife gave birth to their second son on the day he was jailed by the British court, said he wanted another opportunity to play for Pakistan.
“Cricket is my life and every single day that has passed has been so painful because I have not been able to play. All I want is an opportunity to get back into cricket whilst I am still young and I can still play well,” said Butt.
Yasin Patel, the lawyer representing Butt, said the ban was harsh. “We are appealing the sanctions that were imposed upon us and they should not have been so high,” said Patel in the statement.
The ICC was being represented by their legal firm Bird and Bird along with the head of their legal department. The court is not expected to issue a ruling in their case this week.
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