British journalist declares Pakistani tainted cricketers innocent

Questioning the authenticity of a decision on Pakistani tainted trio, British sports journalist Ed Hawkins declared them innocent, trying to prove with various examples that the court was not aware of the spot-fixing process.

His new book “Bookie Gambler Fixer Spy: A Journey to the Heart of Cricket’s Underworld” is due to be published on November 15. Citing various bookies, the author said that it was not possible to bet on the timing of a no-ball.

Ed Hawkins also claimed that the three Pakistani cricketers including Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif are innocent and that they were schemed in the spot fixing case.

Mail Online quoted an excerpt from his book, “The court was not aware. The judge was not aware. This much is clear from the erroneous sentencing remarks by the Hon Mr Justice Cooke: ‘Bets could be placed on these no-balls in unlawful markets, mostly abroad, based on inside advance knowledge of what was going to happen’”.

Quoting an Indian bookmaking, the author said that it seemed clear to me that they [Asif, Amir and Butt] had been scammed. He said that in India, fixing in not done on no-balls and therefore, Justice Cook’s verdict regarding the involvement of three Pakistani cricketers in spot fixing was unjust.

It is pertinent to mention that the three cricketers have already served their sentence in the UK jails for their involvement in spot fixing. The journalist had earlier claimed that the semi-final between Pakistan and India of the Cricket World Cup 2011 was fixed.

According to Hawkins, the bookie had a contract with Pakistan which stipulated that the team would lose the match by a margin of over 20 runs.

The bookie had further said that India batting first would make 260 runs and their first three wickets would fall in 15 overs, while Pakistan would make 100 runs and then lose two quick wickets.

The same author in the book claimed that the World Cup semi-final between Pakistan and India was fixed.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=34892

Posted by Web Desk on Nov 12 2012. Filed under Pakistan, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.