Thursday, June 9, 2011

Village team deny paying Amir

Banned Pakistan paceman Mohammad Amir was not paid any money to turn out for a village side in Surrey last weekend, club officials have insisted.

Amir is facing the threat of more disciplinary action after the 19-year-old admitted playing for the club, though he insists he was told that the match was a friendly and would not contravene his suspension.

The International Cricket Council have launched an inquiry after it emerged that Amir, who is serving a five-year ban from all forms of the game, played in the Surrey league for club side Addington 1743 on Saturday.

Amir was banned by the ICC in February after being found guilty of deliberately bowling no balls in the spot-fixing scandal against England last year.

He has now said he was stunned to learn that the Addington match was a league game - he took four wickets and scored 60 with the bat against St Luke's CC.

Amir told PakPassion.net: "I was informed by club representatives before the game that it was a friendly match, being played on a privately-owned cricket ground."

He continued: "I asked the club representatives if the match fell under the jurisdiction of the ECB and they informed me that it did not."

"I spoke to several club representatives about the issue and they all told me that it was a friendly match and therefore would not contravene my ban from the ICC. I was informed that I was fine to play," a surprised-looking Amir said.

The ICC ban states Amir must not take part in any cricket-related activity but he insists he believed he was okay to play in the game.

Club secretary Raheal Shafi insisted no money had been paid to Amir.

He said: "We are nowhere near Test or county standard and there was no money involved. He was very down to earth. He was relaxing and sitting on the grass and talking about life in Pakistan, life in England and where he has travelled."

The match is likely to have come under the jurisdiction of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), who are themselves investigating.


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