Cricketers’ trial told of vast sums wagered on matches

Prosecutor Aftab Jafferjee QC told Southwark Crown Court an estimated $40bn to $50bn was spent in the Indian sub-continent in one year, with as much as $200m staked on one match alone.

Gamblers bet on everything from the outcome of matches to individual events, such as how many no-balls or wides would be bowled in an over or an innings, the court heard.

He alleged former Pakistani Test captain Salman Butt, 26, and fast bowlers Mohammad Asif, 28, and Mohammad Amir, 19, took bribes as they conspired with UK-based sports agent Mazhar Majeed, 36, to bowl deliberate no balls in a Test match at Lords against England last year.

He said there were “simply breathtaking” sums of money involved in foreign betting markets.

Bets were generally made by telephone, in some cases seconds before the event they covered and constantly changing odds were calculated by “influential but shadowy” figures based around the world.

Butt and Majeed are alleged to have arranged for the two bowlers to deliver three no-balls at specific points in return for large amounts of cash, an activity known as “spot fixing”.

Majeed allegedly told undercover reporter Mazher Mahmood from the News of the World that spot-fixing part of a match cost £50,000 to £80,000 but fixing results was much more expensive – around £400,000 for a 20-over match and as much as £1m for a five-day Test match.

Mahmood agreed to pay £10,000 in return for a no-ball to be played as a “tester” of the agent’s ability to fix matches, the court heard.

Butt had been appointed captain of Pakistan’s cricket team in July last year.

Mr Jafferjee said: “If the prosecution are right about his activity, that appointment consolidated his influence within the team, and assured his ability to direct activity on the field, both legitimate and corrupt.”

Butt told police that the timing of three no-balls exactly when Majeed said they would be bowled was only “a series of freakish occurrences”, the court heard.

Asif told detectives it was “just chance” that he bowled a no-ball exactly when Majeed promised he would.

Majeed, of Croydon, south London, was the agent for a number of Pakistani players. He owned Croydon Athletic Football Club and a chain of ice cream parlours through which he channelled “significant sums” from corrupt match and spot fixing, the prosecutor claimed.

The trial continues today.