Mohammad Asif attributed his infamous no-ball in last year’s Lord’s Test to the abuse he received in the over from his captain Salman Butt, a court heard in London on Thursday.
Butt’s lawyer Ali Bajwa QC hit back at those claims, though, by counter-accusing Asif of fabricating his story to justify the no-ball. In fact the 90-minute exchange between Asif and Bajwa sometimes brought laughter from the court as Asif stuck to his story against Bajwa’s grilling. Asif, speaking in broken English, often required the services of his Urdu interpreter.
Asif was appearing in the witness stand for the first time on the 12th day of the alleged spot-fixing trial, and his lawyer Alexander Milne QC followed an introduction of his career with the nitty-gritty moment about the no-balls in question.
Butt and Asif are facing charges of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments following the Lord’s Test last year when they allegedly conspired with agent Mazhar Majeed, teenager Mohammad Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-planned no-balls. Butt and Asif deny the charges. When discussing the tenth over at Lord’s in which Asif’s one questionable no-ball was delivered, on the sixth ball of the over, Milne asked his client if anything was said to him during this over. He responded by revealing how captain Butt had abused him when moving into a “suspicious” short, straight mid-off position.
Milne replied to that answer by asking Asif whether Butt’s comment was said in a funny way, pointing out that swear words can sometimes be used in a humorous, friendly way. “No, it wasn’t friendly,” Asif said. “It was unfriendly for a captain to speak like that to me, especially with my position in the rankings.” Asif went on: “I thought to myself that I had slept well last night so why is he saying these things. He was desperate for wickets but so was I.”
Bajwa quizzed Asif on why he did not give this explanation in his initial police interview last year, when he told police officers that he had not been put under any pressure to bowl the no-ball.
“I’m going to suggest to you that Mr Butt never referred to you as a f***** at that time or any other time,” Bajwa said. “Why didn’t you say at this point (in your police interview) that ‘my captain was putting me under pressure and that’s why I bowled the no-ball’.”Bajwa, who also accused Asif of “untruthfully downplaying” his relationship with the Majeed brothers, further said of Asif’s no-ball excuse: “That, Mr Asif, is a desperate invention by you because you fear that the jury won’t accept your story for bowling a no-ball.”
Asif pointed out, referring back to his police interview, that he meant he was not pressured into bowling an intentional no-ball as opposed to the circumstances leading up to what he regards as an accidental no-ball. Bajwa, using a replay of the over, pointed out that Asif checked his spikes and had sawdust scattered on the crease afterwards and if he was blaming his captain he would have reacted differently by “glaring” at Butt and telling him how he felt. The case continues.