Salman Butt, 27, was named by his agent Mazhar Majeed, 36,
as one of several players allegedly involved in a gambling scam to rig specific
incidents in games during last year's tour of England, London's Southwark Crown
Court was told.
However, Ali Bajwa, defending the cricketer, said: "We
say Salman Butt only finds himself here on trial accused of these charges
because of the words of his former friend and agent, Mazhar Majeed.
Prosecutors allege that Majeed conspired with Butt and fast
bowlers Mohammad Amir, 19, and Mohammad Asif, 28, to deliver three deliberate
no-balls during last August's Lord's Test between Pakistan and England, in
return for bribes.
Bajwa said Butt told police in interview that the fact that
the no-balls were bowled exactly when Majeed said they would be was a
"freakish coincidence," the Press Association reported.
He told the court: "That is not, and has never been,
part of Butt's defense.
Butt and Asif, who are standing trial, deny conspiracy to
cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments.
The court has heard that an undercover reporter investigating
cricket match fixing paid Majeed 150,000 pounds ($237,000) in cash as part of
an arrangement to rig parts of games.
Bajwa told the jury: "I anticipate that everyone in
this case will agree that there was at the very least a criminal conspiracy between
Mazhar Majeed and Mohammad Amir...
"It is Salman Butt's case that he did not know of the
existence of a conspiracy to bowl no-balls at Lord's and he would never have
allowed himself to become party to it." Butt, who normally appears as an
opening batsman, began playing cricket when he was about 12 and made his
first-class debut for a domestic Pakistan team by the time he was 15.
He played his first Test match for Pakistan against
Bangladesh in 2003.
Speaking of his pride at being selected for the national
side, he said: "To represent Pakistan was the greatest honor of my
life." Explaining why police found nine mobile phone Sim cards in his
hotel room after the scandal broke, Butt said it was cheaper to buy local phone
cards when he was on tour overseas.
The cricketer also said he brought about $12,000 in cash
with him to England last year with the aim of buying a special edition-watch
costing around 8,000 pounds.
