LONDON: Former Pakistan batsman Nasir Jamshed was jailed for 17 months on Friday after pleading guilty to conspiracy for bribing as part of a Twenty20 spot-fixing scheme.
The 30-year-old was arrested alongside two other men — Yousef Anwar, 36, and Mohammed Ijaz, last February as part of a National Crime Agency (NCA) probe into alleged spot-fixing.
Jamshed’s wife, Dr Samara Afzal, has penned a heartfelt letter on the pain her family was going through and advised other players not be lured into “corruption” after her husband was jailed on Friday for match-fixing, according to Pakistan’s Geo TV.
“Today is the most difficult day of my life as Nasir starts his custodial sentence & I figure out what to tell my 4 year old,” wrote Samara, who describes herself on her social media platforms as a full time doctor, part-time cricketer, and cricket coach.
Anwar, from Hayes, west London, played the most prominent role in the plan, and was jailed for three years and four months.
Ijaz, from Sheffield, northern England, was sentenced to two years and six months in custody.
Jamshed, who lives in Walsall, central England, had played Test, one-day and Twenty20 international cricket for Pakistan.
All three admitted their roles in the conspiracy at a previous hearing.
Sentencing them all at Manchester Crown Court in northwest England, judge Richard Mansell said Anwar and Ijaz had engaged in “sophisticated and organised criminal activity”.
What makes cricket, and specifically these T20 tournaments in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, so vulnerable to corrupt practices, is the existence of a huge, largely unregulated online betting industry in the Indian sub-continent.”
Richard Mansell , judge.
Jamshed was “vulnerable to succumbing to the temptation of financial reward”, he added.
“Corruption of this kind has sadly been taking place in the game of cricket for a very long time,” he told the court.
Ian McConnell, NCA senior investigating officer, said after the hearing: “These men abused their privileged access to professional, international cricket to corrupt games, eroding public confidence for their own financial gain.”
