DUBAI — ICC Chief Executive David Richardson Tuesday urged disgraced Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif to accept their guilt and share information on fixing to start their rehabilitation.



Former captain Butt, along with fast bowlers Asif and Mohammad Amir, was banned by the International Cricket Council in 2011 after being found guilty of deliberately contriving no-balls in return for money in the Lord’s Test in England the previous year.



Butt received a 10-year ban, with five years suspended, and Asif was barred for seven years, with two suspended. Amir was banned for five years — the minimum punishment in the ICC code.



All three along with their agent Mazhar Majeed were also jailed by an English court in 2011. The three players were released last year.



The Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last week rejected appeals from Butt and Asif. Amir did not appeal after pleading guilty at his criminal trial.



Richardson urged the players to share any fixing information they have with the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Safety Unit (ACSU).



“I am certain that both Butt and Asif have information that can be of great assistance to the ACSU and its ongoing fight against corruption in cricket,” he said.



“I would, therefore, urge them, without any further delay, to start the process of rebuilding their lives and reputations by apologizing for their actions and meeting with ICC’s ACSU officials to come clean about what actually happened.”



Richardson said the players’ guilt had been established at three different forums. “The guilt of these men has now been established on three separate occasions, in three separate sets of proceedings, first, before the independent Anti-Corruption Tribunal, then in the English criminal courts, and now, finally, in the CAS,” he said.



Richardson, a former South African wicketkeeper batsman, said Butt and Asif must now accept their guilt.



“The time has now come for them to stop misleading the public, especially the supporters of the Pakistan cricket team, and to publicly accept their parts in this corrupt conspiracy,” he said.



The ICC anti-corruption tribunal had also directed that the trio undergo rehabilitation through the Pakistan Cricket Board or serve their full bans.

Richardson warned that fixing remained the biggest threat to the game. — AFP