Hong Kong brothers banned for life for match-fixing

Irfan Ahmed and Nadeem Ahmed were handed the life bans on Monday by the ICC, while teammate Haseeb Amjad was banned for five years

Hong Kong's Irfan Ahmed and brother Nadeem have been handed life bans by the ICC for match-fixing.

The Ahmed brothers' teammate Haseeb Amjad has also been banned for five years after the trio were provisionally suspended in October after being charged for "fixing or contriving" aspects of their side's World Cup qualifiers against Scotland and Canada in 2014.

Irfan was found guilty of nine offences of the ICC's anti-corruption code, while his brother Nadeem and Amjad were found guilty of three offences each.

The ICC's anti-corruption unit's general manager Alex Marshall said: "This has been a long and complex investigation which has uncovered systematic attempts to influence moments in matches by experienced international cricketers over a period of time.

"With the fixers finding it harder than ever before to penetrate the highest levels of the game, we are increasingly seeing them turn their attention to other avenues in the sport.

"The severity of the offences is reflected in the sanctions and I hope will deter other players from taking this path and demonstrate to cricket fans around the world our commitment to a corruption free sport."

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