Asif criticises ICC over ban as CAS hearing nears

Pakistan's banned pace bowler Mohammad Asif has criticised the International Cricket Council (ICC) over his spot-fix suspension and has pleaded his innocence ahead of an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Asif told reporters that a CAS hearing against his minimum five-year ban will be heard in February and one of the main tenets of his defence will be the fact the ICC imposed the suspension before his case went to a criminal court.

He was found guilty in a London court and sentenced to prison, where he served half a one-year term before being released in May.

"The ICC was not fair to me. They imposed a ban on me even before my case went to trial," Asif said.

"I will fight on to clear my name as the charges against me are wrong."

The 29-year old, who played 23 tests and 38 one-day internationals, was caught up in a spot-fixing scandal in 2010 while touring England with the Pakistan team.

An independent tribunal set up by the ICC banned him and two other players, Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir for a minimum of five years in February 2011 before the trio were found guilty in court and jailed in November last year.

The independent tribunal rejected requests by the three to wait for the outcome of the criminal case.

"I am also planning on writing a book in which I will reveal a lot of things," added Asif, who preferred to stay in the United Kingdom after his release but is back in Pakistan for the funeral of a mentor and coach.

Butt and Amir have also returned home after completing their jail sentences.

Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images