LONDON : Mohammad Amir will hope to put the 2010 spot-fixing scandal behind him once and for all when he returns to the scene of the crime in the first Test against England at Lord’s today.
Six years ago, during a Lord’s Test, Amir and Pakistan new-ball partner Mohammad Asif deliberately bowled no-balls on the instructions of captain Salman Butt as part of a sting operation carried out by a tabloid newspaper.
All three received five-year bans from cricket and, together with sports agent Mazhar Majeed, jail terms.
Such was the impact of the controversy, the fact teenage sensation Amir took six for 84 in the first innings of that match has largely been forgotten.
For all his time out of cricket, the 24-year-old retains the ability to swing the ball late at sharp pace, as he showed with a first-innings haul of three for 36 in Pakistan’s tour opener against Somerset.
Now Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq believes Amir can win back the trust of cricket fans with the sheer quality of his play.
“His mood is good,” said Misbah during a pre-match press conference at Lord’s on Wednesday.
“He’s just focusing on what he has to do in the ground,” added the veteran batsman, making his first Test tour of England at the advanced age of 42.
“He is really responding well to that and I hope it’s a big opportunity for him, and that he comes on to the field and performs for Pakistan, to win the people again.”
Amir is far from the only threat in a Pakistan bowling line-up also featuring fellow left-armer Wahab Riaz and leg-spinner Yasir Shah.
That means an England side missing the injured duo of all-time leading wicket-taker James Anderson and all-rounder Ben Stokes, should not have things all their own way as they did in the preceding 2-0 home series win over Sri Lanka.
England captain Alastair Cook, who played in the infamous 2010 match, has long been an advocate of a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to fixing.
However, he has no qualms facing Amir again.
“I’ve said all along I don’t think match fixers should be allowed to play but at that time he was given his punishment,” said Cook.
“He’s served it, so he’s absolutely entitled to come back.” (AGENCIES)
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