Three men charged over cricket spot-fixing

AN INTERNATIONAL investigation into allegations of spot-fixing in cricket tournaments has led to three men being charged with bribery offences.

Mohammed Ijaz, from Sheffield, has been charged following the lengthy inquiry by the National Crime Agency (NCA), along with two other suspects, Yousaf Anwar and Nasir Jamshaid.

The three men are due to appear in court in the new year, nearly two years after they were initially arrested.

An NCA spokesman confirmed yesterday that Ijaz, 33, Anwar, 35, and Jamshaid, 32, were served with written summonses charging them each with two counts of bribery. The three men were arrested in February 2017 as part of the inquiry, which related to tournaments that had been organised by national cricket boards from Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Ijaz, Anwar, of Yeading in Middlesex, and Jamshaid, who is from Pakistan, will appear at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on January 15 each charged with bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery.

Three players were suspended following tribunal hearings after the Pakistan Cricket Board launched its own investigation into the allegations of so-called spot-fixing, which relates to dishonestly determining the outcome of a specific part of a match before it is played.

The NCA confirmed all of the alleged offences related to tournaments which took place overseas, including the Pakistan Super League 2017.

Jamshaid has previously played cricket for Pakistan but he was not in the national team at the time of the alleged offences, the NCA spokesman added.