Butt, Aamer to fly to Doha to know their fate

Karachi, Feb 2 (PTI) Pakistan''s suspended cricketersSalman Butt and Mohammed Aamer will leave for Doha tomorrow tofind out the outcome of the ICC hearing into spot-fixing caseagainst them and the decision of the anti-corruption tribunalwould decide which direction their careers would go.

The third suspended player - pace bowler Mohammad Asif --will fly to Doha directly from London.

Michael Beloff the head of the tribunal is scheduled toannounce the verdict of the tribunal on the spot-fixingallegations against the three suspended players on Saturday ata press conference.

"We have no comments to make on the verdict at this stagebecause we don''t know what the decision is going to come fromthe tribunal," Shahid Karim the lawyer for Aamer said.

He said any decision about appealing against the verdictof the three-member tribunal would be taken later on.

"The rules stipulate that if the players are not happywith the verdict against them they can approach the Court ofArbitration of Sports and appeal the verdicts of the tribunaland that option is always available to us," Karim said.

The three players were suspended on September 2 last yearduring the national team''s tour to England on allegations ofspot fixing in the fourth Test at Lords.

In January, they attended a six-day hearing convened bythe ICC tribunal which announced it was deferring the decisionto February 5.

An official in the Pakistan Cricket Board said that untilnow the board had no role to play in the case.

"We ourselves don''t know what the outcome of the case isgoing to be and the tribunal does not inform anyone includingthe ICC about its decision until it is announced," he said.

He said if the tribunal decides to impose financialpenalties on the players then it would be up to the board toensure the players made the payments.

"That is why the board has withheld some payments of theplayers," he said.

Well-informed sources said that on basis of the six-dayhearing proceedings in Doha indications were that the playerscould be get varying terms of bans and financial penalties andAamir because of his age might escape with a lighter sentence.

"If they are banned, their cricket careers would befinished and they can''t take part in any cricket activity orevent at all," another source added.