ISLAMABAD: Retired Test cricketer Sarfraz Nawaz urged the Pakistan players accused of spot-fixing to take their cases to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. “When the suspended players have no confidence in the ICC, how can they expect a favorable decision when the final hearing will be held,” Sarfraz told The Associated Press Wednesday. The International Cricket Council's code of conduct commission rejected appeals by Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir against their suspensions last Sunday, with the next stage being a hearing by the anti-corruption tribunal into details of the fixing case. Fast bowler Mohammad Asif withdrew his appeal. Butt and Amir accused the ICC of not listening to their appeals against provisional bans last Sunday as code of conduct commission head Michael Beloff heard their appeals. Beloff will now form a three-member anti-corruption tribunal. “In the first place the players should have directly gone to the tribunal instead of going through this appeal process,” Sarfraz said. Butt had said that the code of conduct commission's decision was not based on a “single piece of evidence” against them. However, Sarfraz said the indications were clear that the ICC had some proof against the trio when it suspended them on Sept. 2 after British tabloid The News of the World accused them of bowling pre-determined no-balls during the test against England at Lord's. “I don't think that when the tribunal meets they will have a soft corner for them and I believe they will hand them tough punishments,” Sarfraz said. Both Butt and Amir had termed the spot-fixing accusations as a conspiracy against Pakistan and wanted the government and the cricket board to help them in the dealing with their cases. “I don't buy this theory. Government should not be involved in such cases,” Sarfraz said. “What surprises me most is why are their lawyers not speaking after Sunday's hearing? I believe Beloff must have showed them something which these players are now hiding from the people of Pakistan.” The ICC had already asked the Pakistan Cricket Board to keep a distance from the tainted cricketers and should not assist them in their cases. The PCB will be naming 30 probables for next year's World Cup on Nov. 30 and chairman Ijaz Butt had said that the trio will not be considered until they were cleared by the ICC. “The only place where I feel these cricketers have some hope is CAS and I am more than willing to help them in preparing their case,” Sarfraz said. “Otherwise I don't think they could compete at next year's World Cup.” Sarfraz, who took 177 wickets in 55 Test matches and was regarded as pioneer of reverse swing, criticized the ICC for not reacting in time to curb match-fixing in the past decade. “Had they come down hard on players in the last 10 years by now they would have eradicated this menace of match-fixing,” he said. “There are so many players who were named in Justice Qayyum's report, but most of them are now back in the cricketing setups of various countries.” Justice Mohammad Qayyum handed life bans to former captain Salim Malik and Ataur Rehman in 2001, while also fining several players like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Mushtaq Ahmed for not fully cooperating with the commission. Mushtaq is nowadays associated with then England team while Waqar is the head coach of Pakistan's team. Sarfraz said he had met with former head of ICC's anti-corruption unit – Paul Condon – in 2001 and had provided lot of information on match-fixing during a two-day meeting in London. “But they did nothing,” he said.
