Former Pakistan Captain Butt agrees to rehabilitation

Reuters: Former Pakistan Captain Salman Butt has agreed to undergo rehabilitation while serving his ban for spot-fixing because he wants to resume his cricketing career once the suspension ends.

The 28-year-old was banned for 10 years, with five of those suspended, by an International Cricket Council (ICC) tribunal in 2011 after being found guilty of arranging deliberate no-balls to be delivered in a 2010 Lord’s test against England.

Butt and team mates Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir also served jail terms in England following the “cash for no-balls” scandal.

“I have informed the board that I am ready to undergo any rehabilitation program or attend any course as part of the ICC anti-corruption procedure,” he told Reuters.

“I want to play cricket again once the ban ends because it is my passion. I have told the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) I am willing to attend any program when they deem it right.”

Butt’s decision comes the day after ICC chief executive Dave Richardson urged the disgraced trio to start “coming clean about what really happened” and help cricket in “the fight against corruption”.

Butt and Asif lost appeals against their bans at the Court of Arbitration for Sport last week.