Mohammad Amir (Urdu: محمد عامر , born 13 April 1992), also known as Mohammad Aamer, is a Pakistani international cricketer, whose suspension and subsequent five year ban curtailed his promising career. He is a left-arm fast bowler, who opened the bowling in all formats of the game. He made his first-class debut in 2007, and his first One-Day International and Test appearance in 2009 in Sri Lanka, at the age of 17. However, he played his first international match during the 2009 ICC World Twenty20, where he played in every game, helping the national side win the tournament.
Full name Mohammad Amir Born April 13, 1992, Gujjar Khan, Punjab Current age 19 years 241 days teams Pakistan, Federal Areas, National Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan Under-19s, Rawalpindi, Rawalpindi Rams Also known as Mohammad Aamer Batting style Left-hand batBowling style Left-arm fastMohammad Amir, a left-arm pace bowler, reveres Wasim Akram. Over 2007 and 2008, he also emerged, improbably young still, as a hot pace prospect. Even before he went to England on an U-19 tour, he had been picked out as a special talent by Akram himself at a pace camp he oversaw in Lahore in May 2007. By 2010, he had become the hottest pace bowling prospect around the world - but within months his career was in ruins following charges of spot-fixing.
He began in 2009 with an impressive showing on the domestic circuit, impressing with his whippy pace and swing. He took 55 wickets for National Bank of Pakistan in his debut season, and earned selection to the Pakistan World Twenty20 squad. There he hit the big time, taking over from an out-of-sorts Sohail Tanvir and bowling with pace, accuracy and courage.He hovered in the high 80mphs, touching even 90 on occasion and was a crucial opening link in Pakistan's title run. He bowled several nerveless final overs and one absolutely crucial opening over, in the final, when he dismissed tournament top-scorer Tillakaratne Dilshan for a five-ball duck, peppering him with quick short balls. He carried on his form to the ODI version, picking match-winning figures of 4 for 28 against Sri Lanka in August before turning in consistent spells in the Champions Trophy. His Test career got off to a more sedate start after he picked 6 wickets on debut in Sri Lanka.Thereafter, over tours to New Zealand, Australia and England, he matured remarkably, building up his pace and both new-ball and reverse swing. The 2010 tour of England saw the best of him and he became the youngest bowler, at 18, to take 50 Test wickets. But his world crashed around him when he was implicated in a spot-fixing scam in which it was alleged that he had bowled deliberate, pre-planned no-balls in a Test. In February 2011 he was handed a five-year ban following investigations by an ICC tribunal. He pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to six months in prison at Southwark Crown Court.Amir were jailed for 2½ years and six months respectively after being found guilty of conspiracy to accept corrupt payments and cheat in relation to the bowling of no-balls during the Lord’s Test against England last year.The Court of Appeal will hear their case on Nov 23 with the Lord Chief Justice presiding.Their convictions have reopened the debate about fixing which became even more heated on Friday when the international players’ union criticised Lord Condon’s comment earlier this week that “every international team, at some stage, had someone doing funny stuff”.Tim May, the chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations, asked to see proof. He said: “Player associations are getting sick and tired of people coming out making these general accusations, the effect of which casts doubts over the entire player base. If people are going to make these types of accusations, make sure that they are specific and make sure that you have the proof to back up such claims.”Keith Bradshaw, the outgoing chief executive of the MCC, was on Friday appointed to a similar role with the South Australia Cricket Association. Meanwhile, Derbyshire have been forced to scrap their plan to pcb pakistan cricket board recruit a “landmark” signing having failed to lure former England all-rounder Paul Collingwood or former Australia captain Ricky Ponting.Derbyshire’s new chairman Chris Grant announced in the middle of last season that he was looking to sign a high-quality international player to support captain Luke Sutton and add experience to a youthful squad.But Grant has been unable to compete with the financial rewards available to players for a shorter stint in the Indian Premier League.“Maybe I was guilty of being a little naive but I honestly thought it was an idea worth pursuing and, if we had been able to get our man, I would have done all we could to make sure the money kyu why when where bail judge cook what should would must lazmi rehaee riha would have been there to pull it off,” Grant said.“The money we could pay would still have been a lot less than players can make for playing six weeks in the IPL, but I still thought we could find the kind of player we had in mind.”Mohammad Amir's claim that his cricket fixing was 'isolated' to just one game has today been thrown out by the judge who will sentence him and two teammates.The fast bowler and fellow Pakistani cricketers Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif were found guilty at Southwark Crown Court yesterday and face seven years behind bars.But Amir, who was 18 when a newspaper sting lifted the lid on the spot-fixing scandal after a number of no-balls were bowled against England at Lord's in August 2010, protested that he should be given a lenient sentence as that was the only Test in which he had cheated.Unlike his two teammates, who were convicted of conspiracy to cheat at gambling and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments yesterday, Amir pleaded guilty to the charge, insisting that he was forced to bowl no-balls in that single match.However, Mr Justice Cooke dismissed his claims that it was 'an isolated and one-off event' and ruled that text messages sent from shadowy contacts in Pakistan suggest the young cricketer was also implicated in fixing during the Oval Test earlier in the summer.Unlike his two teammates, who were convicted of conspiracy to cheat at gambling and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments yesterday, Amir pleaded guilty to the charge, insisting that he was forced to bowl no-balls in that single match.However Mr Justice Cooke dismissed his claims that it was 'an isolated and one-off event' and ruled that text messages sent from shadowy contacts in Pakistan suggest the young cricketer was also implicated in fixing during the Oval Test earlier in the summer.Unlike his two teammates, who were convicted of conspiracy to cheat at gambling and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments yesterday, Amir pleaded guilty to the charge, insisting that he was forced to bowl no-balls in that single match.However, Mr Justice Cooke dismissed his claims that it was 'an isolated and one-off event' and ruled that text messages sent from shadowy contacts in Pakistan suggest the young cricketer was also implicated in fixing during the Oval Test earlier in the summer.Unlike his two teammates, who were convicted of conspiracy to cheat at gambling and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments yesterday, Amir pleaded guilty to the charge, insisting that he was forced to bowl no-balls in that single match.However, Mr Justice Cooke dismissed his claims that it was 'an isolated and one-off event' and ruled that text messages sent from shadowy contacts in Pakistan suggest the young cricketer was also implicated in fixing during the Oval Test earlier in the summer.
