BBC criticised for referring Mohammad Amir as ‘convicted spot-fixer’

Jul 6, 2016 at 11:06 AM

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BBC criticised for referring Mohammad Amir as ‘convicted spot-fixer’

English broadcasters BBC are finding themselves in hot waters after they labelled Pakistani pacer Mohammad Amir as a “convicted spot-fixer” after his brilliant performance against Somerset in the practice match. The 24-year old is making a comeback to Test cricket after serving his ban for five years, and his first outing in the white outfit was nothing short of brilliant as his 3-36 in 11 overs  rocked Somerset’s batting line-up.His fiery spell even made former England and Somerset opening batsman Marcus Trescothick worry for the English top-order.

“He bowled very well,” Trescothick, who was dismissed by Amir for eight, said. “He swung the ball really late, that’s the biggest thing we noticed.”

While Amir received praise from all quarters for his spell, the BBC  reported: “Convicted spot-fixer Mohammad Amir was in the wickets as he returned to first-class cricket.

The headline received widespread criticism. English all-rounder Ravi Bopara,who played with Amir for Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Karachi Kings, was one of the first ones to criticise the news channel. The all-rounder took to twitter to criticise the broadcasters.

“The guy performs well and that’s the best headline BBC sport could come up with? Poor from BBC sport,” he said.

Wisden India’s editor-in-chief, Dileep Premachandran also blasted BBC for its “two-facedness.”

“BBC Sport picking on Mohammad Amir is just taking two-facedness to an extreme,” wrote Dileep Premachandran.

“Factually, there is nothing wrong with the BBC headline. Amir did engage in spot-fixing. He has admitted as much.

“He was 18 at the time, and the fact that he shared an agent with his crooked captain, who really should have been banned for life, undoubtedly had a lot to do with his actions.

“Yet, he has never used that as an excuse. Even though he was still a teenager, he was mature enough to take his punishment on the chin,” he said.

The headline by BBC is certainly surprising as they did not find any issue while reporting the qualification of American sprinter Justin Gatlin for the Rio Olympic Games. Gatlin was banned twice for doping .

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