Mohammad Asif released from prison

Mohammad Asif, the Pakistan fast bowler, has been released from jail after completing half of his one-year sentence for spot-fixing, his lawyers said. He was freed from Canterbury Prison in southeast England on Thursday morning.

Asif, 29, was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court in November 2011 of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments over deliberate no-balls bowled during the Lord's Test between Pakistan and England in August 2010. He is still under a seven-year ban (the last two years of which are suspended) imposed by an ICC tribunal in February last year.

His team-mates Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir were also found guilty. While Asif and Butt denied the charges against them in court Amir, who was released in February after serving half of a six-month sentence, pleaded guilty. Butt, who is currently serving a 30-month jail sentence, was banned for ten years (with five suspended), while Amir got five years.

Mazhar Majeed, the agent who was accused of setting up the deal that was uncovered by a newspaper sting operation, was imprisoned for 32 months.