Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir attack ICC ruling

Pakistan pair Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir have criticised the International Cricket Council’s rejection of their appeals against provisional bans.Butt and Amir have been suspended since 2 September while claims of spot-fixing against England are investigated.”They have no evidence and it appears they are just trying to corner Pakistan,” said former captain Butt.Team-mate Mohammad Asif is accused of deliberately bowling no-balls but withdrew his appeal before the hearing.Butt and Amir travelled to the ICC’s headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates to contest their interim bans.Their case was dismissed by the chairman of the ICC ‘s code of conduct commission Michael Beloff after a two-day hearing.The duo, along with Asif, were accused by the News of the World newspaper of accepting money in return for arranging no-balls to be bowled at prescribed points in the fourth Test at Lord’s in August.The ICC Anti-Corruption and Security Unit’s (ACSU) launched an investigation into the claims while the Metropolitan Police is yet to charge anyone in its ongoing inquiry.The lawyer representing Butt, Aftab Gul, had said that, although he was disappointed by the outcome, he thought the process was fair.But both Butt and Amir questioned the basis of Beloff’s decision.”They have no evidence except for what has appeared in the News of the World and they didn’t even give us a date for the full hearing, we are totally disappointed,” said Butt on his return to Lahore.”To me it appeared as if this is a conspiracy to defame Pakistan cricket. I am hurt and sad because we want the truth to come out,” said 18-year-old pace bowler Amir.”I am disappointed because they didn’t even tell us the reason for rejecting our appeals. It appeared to be as if the decision of the hearing had been made beforehand.”The two players said they would wait for the ICC to send them a date for the hearing before deciding on their next step – Bbc