Mohammad Aamer, bookie Mazhar Majeed admit to spot-fixing

Pakistan pacer Mohammad Aamer has confessed to his involvement in the spot-fixing scandal that rocked the cricketing world during Pakistan’s Test series in England last year. The bookie who set up the fix, Mazhar Majeed, has also confessed to his crime .

Sources said that the young cricketer submitted a confessional statement in a court in London. The spot-fixing scandal was initially exposed by the now-closed British tabloid News of the World.

The tabloid had alleged that Aamer and fellow pacer Mohammad Asif deliberately bowled no-balls at specific times during the Lord’s Test last year.

The News of the World alleged that an agent affiliated with some of the Pakistani players, later identified as Mazhar Majeed, had accepted a bribe from an undercover reporter Mazhar Mahmood for information that Aamer and Asif would deliberately deliver no-balls at specific points during the match, information which could be used by gamblers to make wagers with inside information (a process known as spot-fixing, compared with match fixing to predetermine a match result).

In the video posted by News of the World, Majeed was shown counting out the bribe money, and promised that Aamer would be Pakistan’s bowler for the first over, and that the third ball of the over would be a no-ball. Aamer did bowl the first over, and the third delivery was indeed a no-ball.

Commentary described the delivery as a “massive overstep”, a good half-metre beyond the popping crease. Majeed also predicted that the sixth delivery of the 10th over would be a no-ball, and the ball, delivered this time by Asif, was just that.