'Lord's Test against Pak last year looked clean'

The legitimacy of Australia's victory over Pakistan at Lord's Test last year may be in question but Simon Katich and Shane Watson said they never suspected any wrongdoing in that match.

- Judge slaps fines too on convicted trio

According to information revealed during the spot-fixing trial in London, an Indian bookmaker called Sanjay ordered Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir to let the Australians score more than 47 runs in the first 10 overs of the Lord's Test.

However, Amir dismissed Shane Watson and Australians were struggling at 1-23 at the end of the 10-overs. Katich said conditions were difficult for batting in that match and he felt nothing dodgy.

"From my recollection it was business as usual in a Test, it was hard work and it didn't feel like we were getting any freebies. Those two were very good bowlers, particularly in those conditions.

"It never felt like anything dodgy was going on. They had us in trouble in that Test. They weren't far away from winning in the end," Katich was quoted as saying by Australian.

Watson, who had taken five wickets in the first Pakistan innings of that match, said that he never suspected that anything fishy was on in that match.

"No, not at all actually. I didn't think anything untoward at all apart from trying our best and them trying their best to win the game," he said.

"We've played quite a bit of cricket against them throughout the last two or three years as well, with the Test series in Australia as well as over in England and some one-day series as well.

"I definitely didn't suspect anything of what's come out over the last year or so," he added.

Watson feels that life bans should be handed out to corrupt cricketers to send out a strong signal to others.

"In the end, I think a life ban is surely enough to be able to say to people that it's the wrong thing to do. It's challenging the integrity and taking the game of cricket down," said Watson.

"Whether it's jail, whether it's a life (playing) sentence, there's no doubt that the punishments are very severe for doing the wrong thing. Since I first started playing, you know that if you do something wrong in that regard you won't be playing cricket ever again," he said.

The all-rounder said the Pakistani trio has got the treatment they deserved for their action.

"It's very disappointing when you see the things that have happened in England with the Pakistan guys and, in the end, they deserve the punishment that they do get because they've done the wrong thing in a big way.

"For me personally, it's given me an amazing life and something I only ever dreamed of, so I would never would want to do anything that even questioned the ability for me to be able to play the game that I love so much," he told Australian Associated Press.