Speaker

In September 2010, the ICC suspended three Pakistan players - Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif, and Salman Butt - on allegations of what was later defined as spot-fixing. They were alleged to have carried out specific on-field actions, including bowling no-balls at pre-determined times, during the Lord’s Test against England on the instance of a bookie. The three were later handed long bans by the ICC before the matter moved to the British Crown courts, where all three were convicted and sentenced to spells of detention. The Thin White Line tells the story of this spot-fixing scandal, which sent shockwaves through the sport. It stunned the wider sporting world. It also branded News of the World’s Mazher Mahmood as one of the most controversial news reporters ever. It was the start of a stunning chain of events that saw the News of the World shut down, Pakistan captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir banned and sent to prison, before Mahmood himself got jailed. This 256-page forensic account shines a light on the tradecraft of the News of the World team and how they exposed the criminal scheming of the cricketers and their fixer. It reveals how deeply fixing had penetrated the Pakistan dressing room.