'Spot-fix players deserve life bans'

Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir have been suspended following last weekend's allegations in the News of the World and are the subject of police and International Cricket Council investigations. All three deny any wrongdoing.

The paper now claims that the ICC are investigating a fourth - as yet unnamed - Pakistan player.

Wajid Shamsul Hasan believes that if the allegations are proved correct, all three should be issued with a "most draconian penalty."

"It's the responsibility of the ICC to take any appropriate action and only they have the authority to ban them for life," he said.

"But if the evidence that the News of the World is supposed to have is proven correct and is admissible in a court of law, I would banish them from cricket.

"If they are found guilty they must be punished properly, not only banned for life, but I would see that they are prosecuted properly in a court of law.

"They must be given sentences so that we would not see these sort of characters in sport because they are spoiling the whole history of the game.

"If they are found guilty of anything they will be given a most draconian penalty because they have been responsible for bringing a bad name to cricket, their country and the team."

Sunday's News of the World featured an interview with Test batsman Yasir Hameed during which he allegedly says that some of his team-mates were engaged in rigging games, while there are also suggestions that he was offered and turned down £100,000 to fix matches.

Hameed was quoted in the News of the World as saying: "They were doing it (fixing) in almost every match. God knows what they were up to. Scotland Yard was after them for ages.

"It makes me angry because I'm playing my best and they are trying to lose. Only the ones that get caught are branded crooks."

Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed told reporters on Sunday that Hameed had denied such statements.

Hasan said: "I saw the interview tape and it seemed like Yasir Hameed was presenting very casual evidence to the News of the World. Later on I heard him speak to a different channel and he denied every word of it."

Hasan stressed that Butt, Asif and Amir remain innocent until proven guilty.

"They're innocent until proven guilty. That was my stance from day one and I still maintain it," he said.