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Suspended Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Aamer may be in line for a more lenient corruption penalty than his older teammates Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif.
The implication of Aamer in a betting sting surrounding the bowling of no balls to order in a Test match against England at Lord’s has provoked widespread sorrow, for the 18-year-old fast bowler is considered one of the brightest talents to emerge for some years.
Many sage voices, including those of former England captains Mike Atherton and Nasser Hussain, have advocated leniency for Aamer on the basis that he was in thrall to his captain Butt and senior pace bowler Asif.
ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat appears to agree, though careful not to influence the thinking of the ICC’s independent tribunal, which will hear the cricketers’ case at a time to be determined.
“In my own honest personal view, yes, I think age would come into account in these matters,” Lorgat told the London Daily Mail.
“But that is something the independent tribunal will have to decide upon.”
The ICC’s investigation has been conducted alongside that of Scotland Yard and Lorgat has admitted the game’s governing body felt compelled to charge the Pakistani trio quickly rather than waiting for a criminal case that may take years to prosecute, if it gets that far.
To do that would have allowed the stench of corruption to fester uncontrollably while implicated players continued to ply their trade, tarring others the process.
Indian captain MS Dhoni believes the current furore has besmirched the integrity of all international cricketers.
“Something like match fixing or spot fixing brings disrepute to the game, and it doesn’t only restrict to the people who are doing it on the side which they belong to,” Dhoni told Indian television.
“I think people start associating it with the whole fraternity, which means all the cricketers whichever team you are playing for it doesn’t really matter.
“At times what happens, if there’s a game which is a very low scoring game, people often say ‘it may be a fixed game’.
“When you work so hard on the field that is one thing you don’t really want.”
Dhoni has gained enormous wealth as a popular batsman/wicketkeeper and captain, but only after emerging from the obscurity of Bihar, one of India’s more impoverished states.
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