ICC using example of comeback hero Mohammad Amir to educate young cricketers

New Delhi: Mohammad Amir may have made a successful comeback from a five-year-ban to international cricket, but his example is being used by ICC's ACU to educate young players about the perils of involving in corrupt practices.

The left-arm pacer was convicted along with other Pakistan players Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif for match-fixing and was even jailed in an English prison.

"We have actually used Mohammad Amir (incident) at a very early stage. He did make a video for us before he admitted his guilt and described the effect that had upon him and how wrong he was," said ICC's Anti-Corruption Unit's chairman, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, at a media conference on Sunday.

Flanagan told reporters about the measures being taken by his unit to prevent corrupt practices marring the ICC World T20 Championships commencing in two days' time in the country.

Amir was given a chance to resurrect his interrupted international career with the Pakistan team after serving a three-month prison sentence for his role in the 2010 spot-fixing episode.

He made a return to international cricket on January 15 following a five-year ban for Pakistan against New Zealand in the opening Twenty20 International in Auckland.

The fast bowler, now 23 years old, was found guilty and banned for intentionally bowling no-balls during the Lord's Test against England in 2010.

When asked whether players involved in spot-fixing should be allowed to return to the game, Flanagan said, "It's a good thing in cricket that we have independent tribunals to decide upon punishment, just as the way in police.

"When you investigate something, you present an evidence to court. In our case we present it to the tribunal. We do not decide as investigators what the punishment is. The independent tribunal decides upon that punishment.

"We have zero-tolerance of corrupt activity, but does that mean punishment should always be the same? I'll use the description in the criminal law....an assault is different from murder," he explained.

"So we have used that (video) in the past in our education with players. We did use that at a very early stage, just after he had released from prison," said Flanagan.

Amir was one of the stars of Pakistan's Asia Cup campaign, bowling the best spell of the tournament against India.

(With PTI inputs)