Cricketer admits to spot fixing

A PROFESSIONAL cricketer has pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe fellow players to spot fix in a Twenty20 match.

Nasir Jamshaid, 33, from Walsall, who has represented Pakistan more than 60 times, had been on trial at Manchester Crown Court but changed his plea yesterday.

Two other men, Yousef Anwar, 36, from Slough – described as the ringleader – and Mohammed Ijaz, 34, from Sheffield, had admitted conspiracy to commit bribery before the trial got under way.

All three will be sentenced in February. Opening the case, prosecutor Andrew Thomas QC said an undercover police officer infiltrated the spot-fixing network by posing as a member of a corrupt betting syndicate.

His work led to the uncovering of an attempted fix in the Bangladesh Premier League towards the end of 2016 and an actual fix in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in February 2017. In both cases, a batsman in the Twenty20 tournaments had agreed to not score from the first two balls of an over in return for payment.