Mohammad Asif claims he was ill-treated by then captain Salman Butt before the no-ball incident at Lord's
Mohammad Asif claims he was ill-treated by then captain Salman Butt before the no-ball incident at Lord'sPakistan's Mohammad Asif who was appearing in the witness stand for the first time on the 12th day of the alleged spot-fixing trial yesterday accused his former captain Salman Butt of verbally abusing him in the moments leading up to his delivery of an allegedly prearranged no-ball at Lord's last year. Asif and Butt deny charges that they accepted corrupt payments and cheated at gambling over the alleged spot-fix.
M Asif outside the Southwark Crown Court in London recently. Pic/AFPAsif's counsel, Alexander Milne QC, paid close attention to the moment Asif bowled the last ball of the 10th over on day one of the fourth Test against England. After the first ball of the tenth over Butt had moved into an unusual fielding position at a straight, short mid-off, which is where, it is alleged, that Butt made the remarks from.
Asked what Butt was saying to him from that close position, Asif responded: "He said to me all the time: 'Come on, you look sleepy, run faster f'''''.' He said it more than once. Saying: 'Haven't you slept?"
Milne sought to clarify if the abusive word had been used as some term of endearment. "No," Asif said, "it wasn't friendly. I didn't feel it was friendly. For me as a ranking bowler and the wicket-taking bowler you can't say that to me in this position."
During the proceedings at London's Southwark crown court, Milne also established through his answers from his client that Asif had minimal contact with Majeed. Asif also denied ever having any knowledge of taking any money for the no-balls or even having any knowledge that other people had "an interest" in his bowling a no-ball.
