Butt and Amir set to appeal sentences

Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir will appear at the Court of Appeal in London on Wednesday to contest the sentences imposed on them at the spot-fixing trial in Southwark earlier this month.

Butt was given a two-and-a-half year jail term after being found guilty of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments based on orchestrating no-balls against England, at Lord's, in 2010.

Amir was given two six-month sentences under the same charges, to run concurrently, and is currently in detention at a young offenders' institute. The Lord Chief Justice will hear their cases on Wednesday.

Mohammad Asif and agent Mazhar Majeed were jailed for a year and 32 months respectively. The three cricketers and Majeed were caught after a News of the World sting operation which produced evidence of Majeed setting up the deliberate no-balls that were delivered during England's first innings at Lord's. Majeed claimed to have paid Asif £65,000, Butt £10,000 and Amir £2,500.

The convictions were the first criminal charges ever to have been brought to bear for match-fixing in the sport, although Lord Condon, the former head of the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, stated in an interview with the London Evening Standard that "every international team, at some stage, had someone doing funny stuff".

Tim May, the chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations, hit back at Condon's claims. "Player associations are getting sick and tired of people coming out making these general accusations, the effect of which casts doubts over the entire player base. If people are going to make these types of accusations, make sure that they are specific and make sure that you have the proof to back up such claims."