Sheffield man due to be sentenced over cricket spot-fixing scam

Pakistan international batsman Nasir Jamshaid, 33, Yousef Anwar, 36, and Mohammed Ijaz, 34, were arrested last February as part of a National Crime Agency probe into alleged spot-fixing.

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An undercover police officer infiltrated the network by posing as a member of a corrupt betting syndicate.

His work led to an attempted fix in the Bangladesh Premier League towards the end of 2016 being revealed, as well as an actual fix in the Pakistan Super League in February 2017.

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In both cases, an opening batsman in the Twenty20 tournaments agreed to not score runs from the first two balls of an over in return for payment.

Jamshaid, of High Street, Walsall, was said to have been the target of bribery in the Bangladesh ‘two dot ball’ plan.

He then turned perpetrator as a go-between who encouraged other players to spot-fix at a fixture between Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi in Dubai.

The undercover operative had been introduced to ‘ringleader’ Anwar who was suspected of involvement in bribery and match-fixing in international cricket.

At their first meeting at a hotel in Slough in November 2016, Anwar said he had six players working for him.

He freely admitted being involved in spot-fixing for about 10 years, Manchester Crown Court heard, and went on to discuss a fee of £30,000 per fix with payment shared between those involved.

Anwar, of Littlebrook Avenue, Slough, and Ijaz, of Chippingham Street, Darnall, Sheffield, pleaded guilty to conspiring together between November 2016 and December 2016 to offer financial advantages to players with the intention of inducing them to perform improperly by failing to play competitively in good faith.

The pair also admitted the same charge in relation to players taking part in the PSL between November 2016 and February 2017.

Jamshaid, who made more than 60 appearances for his country, denied the PSL bribery offence but changed his plea to guilty during his trial in December.

Last year, Jamshaid was banned from playing cricket for 10 years following an investigation by the Pakistan Cricket Board's anti-corruption unit.