Spot-fixing controversy

Amir will not appeal ICC ban

	Legal experts said they believed the possibility of a successful outcome was reduced by Mohammad Amir pleading guilty

Mohammad Amir, the Pakistan fast bowler, has decided not to appeal, in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the five-year ban imposed on him by the ICC for spot-fixing during the 2010 Lord's Test against England.

"Amir told the ICC earlier this week through his lawyer that he would not be appealing against his five-year ban," an ICC spokesman told ESPNcricinfo.

The decision was taken after legal experts said they believed the possibility of a successful outcome was reduced by Amir pleading guilty before the ICC and a London court. Last November, Amir and team-mates Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif were given sentences for bowling deliberate no-balls during the Test.

Amir pleaded guilty and did not contest his case in London's Southwark Crown Court. He returned home on Sunday, nearly a month after being released from Portland Young Offenders Institution in Dorset, where he had served half of a six-month sentence for his part in the spot-fixing scam. He is currently serving his ICC ban, which ends in 2015.

At the trial, the judge Mr Justice Cooke, said Amir was "unsophisticated, uneducated and impressionable" and "readily leant on by others".

Amir, who returned with his London-based solicitor Sajida Malik, hasn't yet spoken about his future. In the meantime, the PCB said it was keen to rehabilitate him till he serves his ban.

The PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf insisted that Amir was still an asset and a world-class bowler. "We will consider him for selection once his ban is over," Ashraf said in Islamabad after the governing board meeting.

The PCB is likely to involve Amir in an education programme, but is also keen to talk to him about the spot-fixing case. Under ICC regulations, a player who has been banned must go through a rehabilitation course before returning to cricket.