ICC rejects Butt reply to spot-fixing charges

The ICC has rejected Salman Butt's reply to the spot-fixing charges against him, and asked Butt to file a fresh response. "He must file a fresh reply by later today [December 17] or he could lose his right of defence against the allegations levelled against him," Aftab Gul, Butt's former lawyer, told Reuters, according to a report in the Dawn. It was not clear whether Butt had filed his revised reply within the deadline.

Gul also said he was no longer representing Butt. "As far as I know now Aitzaz Ahsan is handling his case," he told PTI.

An ICC code of conduct tribunal will hear the case against Butt and seamers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif from Januarty 6-11 in Doha. The trio were suspended by the ICC pending an investigation into allegations by the News of the World tabloid that they arranged for deliberate and planned no-balls to be bowled in Pakistan's fourth Test at Lord's against England. Since then, Butt and Amir have had their appeals against suspensions dismissed by the ICC in a hearing in Dubai, while Asif chose not to appeal.

The evidence gathered by NOTW was meanwhile passed on to Scotland Yard and the ICC's anti-corruption unit, who subsequently launched their own investigations and gathered more evidence. The UK's Crown Prosecution Service is considering whether the evidence passed on to them by police is enough to warrant criminal prosecution against the players.