Reuters/Mumbai

The reprieve given to Pakistan bowler Mohamed Amir in a spot-fixing scandal will encourage corrupt players to come clean and help maintain the game’s integrity, International Cricket Council (ICC) Chief Executive David Richardson said yesterday.
Amir and his former teammates Salman Butt and Mohamed Asif were all banned for spot-fixing, particularly for bowling deliberate no-balls by pre-arrangement at Lord’s, during Pakistan’s tour of England in 2010.
The trio served jail sentences in Britain and were given minimum five-year bans by an ICC tribunal.
Amir’s five-year ban was scheduled to expire on September 2 but ICC’s anti-corruption unit (ACSU) chairman Ronnie Flanagan exercised his discretion to allow him to return to domestic cricket with immediate effect.
“There’s an incentive to players that if you have messed up there’s a way back,” Richardson said.
“Don’t forget that Amir would have been out of international cricket for five years. That’s more than half a career. Most players don’t even get to play five years at international level,” said the former South Africa
stumper-batsman.
Left-arm bowler Amir was marked as a great prospect for Pakistan in his early days and at the age of 18 he became the youngest bowler to capture 50 Test wickets during the controversial Test match at Lord’s in 2010.
According to a revised anti-corruption code, a banned player can appeal to resume playing domestic cricket before the end of the ban.
“Not withstanding what he did, no one suggests that we should be tolerant or be lax on players who get involved in these type of things,” the 55-year-old Richardson said.
“But in his case, he admitted his involvement and since then he’s made every effort to disclose everything that he knows to help the ACSU with their education programmes. Therefore, I think he served as a good example to players who might have got involved in the past, regret what they have done and there’s a way for them to come back in due course.”

Relieved Amir set to play for Karachi team
Pakistan paceman Mohamed Amir is set to return to domestic cricket next month with a Grade-II team in Karachi, an official said yesterday, following the relaxation of a fixing ban.
The 22-year-old left-armer will play for Omar Associates in the Patron’s Trophy Grade-II national tournament—one rung below first-class—that begins March 9.
“We have signed Amir to play for our team in the Grade-II as we think that everybody deserves a second chance in life and career,” Associates’ chief Nadeem Omar said yesterday.
The Anti-Corruption and Security Unit of the International Cricket Council (ICC) last week cleared Amir to play domestic cricket in Pakistan with immediate effect.
The decision followed last year’s ruling that allowed all banned players to return to first-class cricket a few months before their ban expires.
The ICC banned Amir along with Salman Butt and Mohamead Asif for five years over a spot-fixing case in England in 2010.
The trio were convicted of taking money in return for bowling deliberate no-balls during the Lord’s Test against England in August that year.
All three players along with their agent Mazhar Majeed were  jailed in Britain a year later.
Omar said Amir has fulfilled all obligations as per the ICC rules.
“We have signed Amir because he has fulfilled everything which was required of him and the ICC and the Pakistan Cricket Board cleared him,” he said.
“He is a very good talent and can be used as an ambassador of morality in the future.”
The PCB said Amir would be monitored on and off the field for the next few months before being cleared to play international cricket once his ban expires in September this year.