His London law firm, SJS Solicitors, confirmed the 29-year-old had been freed from Canterbury Prison in south-east England.

Asif, who played 23 Tests and 38 one-day internationals, was sentenced for his part in bowling deliberate no-balls during a Lord's test against England in 2010.

The spot fixing conspiracy was revealed after a British newspaper recorded sports agent Mazhar Majeed boasting of how he could arrange for players to rig games for money.

Teammates Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir were also sentenced. Amir was freed from a young offenders institution in February after serving half a six-month sentence.

Former Pakistan captain Butt was handed a 30-month term. All three were banned for a minimum of five years by the International Cricket Council.

Flamboyant opener Chris Gayle has scrapped his deal with English county Somerset to make himself available for West Indies after ending his year-long dispute with the cricket board.

Gayle has not been part of the West Indies team since his attack on the board in a radio interview in April last year and was not picked in the squad for the three-match Test series against England starting on May 17.

The 32-year-old left-hander, currently playing for the Bangalore franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL), is now eyeing a place in the three one-dayers and a Twenty20 international that follow the England Tests.

"I have written to Somerset CC and advised them that I will not be honoring the commitment I made to them when I signed a contract with them for the 2012 Friends Provident Championship," Gayle said in a statement.

"I have now satisfied all of the requests of the WICB (West Indies Cricket Board) and their selection panel... and to whom I reiterated previous assurances given to the board regarding my availability.

"So that there is no doubt, I confirmed to the selectors that I was available for West Indies duty in all forms of cricket, immediately following the conclusion of my contractual obligations to my IPL franchise, Royal Challengers Bangalore." The IPL is scheduled to finish on May 25 and Gayle will still not be considered for selection for any of the Test matches.

Somerset chief executive Guy Lavender told the county website (www.somersetcountycc.co.uk) of their "disappointment" at the news but West Indies coach Ottis Gibson said Gayle's appetite for international cricket had returned.

"Nobody wants to renege on contracts but the honor of representing your country should still be very strong and Chris is realizing that," the former England bowling coach told Sky Sports.

Gibson said he hoped Gayle, who is 22nd on the all-time list of most ODI runs with 8,087, would return for the limited-overs matches in June.

"Chris Gayle is our best one-day batsman and the saga that's been going on has been going on far too long," added Gibson.