Former Pakistan cricket captain Salman Butt told Southwark crown court he was 'suspicious' of a text he received from his agent. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP
The cricketer Salman Butt told a court on Monday he was "suspicious" and challenged his former agent, Mazhar Majeed, over involvement in match fixing at the World Twenty20 tournament in 2010.
A text message Butt received from Majeed during the tournament was recovered from his mobile phone and put before Southwark crown court in London. Majeed texted: "Other thing, in the seventh, eighth over, one fall in each. This will only work if you score in the first two overs and no wickets."
Butt gave most of his testimony in English, but switched to Punjabi when asked by Ali Bajwa, his lawyer, if he confronted Majeed about the message.
Butt responded through an interpreter: "Yes. You must understand that I must report these things if they come up.
"He said, 'I am your friend and I have known you many years' he said 'I am just checking if you are doing something dodgy or not'. He said he was trying to test me with something non-serious.
"Anyone in my place would have had suspicions about it. I did not expect this thing to come up. I had known him for years and he had never done this before."
The Pakistan captain then explained why he failed to report the agent's text to the cricketing authorities.
"I'd worked with him a couple of years," said Butt. "This is someone I know. If it [happened] how he explained it to me there was no way the ICC [should] find out. The only way of working was to have a good relation so I took his word."
On the field of play, in a match against South Africa, Butt lost his wicket in the 10th ball of the innings.
Earlier in the proceedings, Butt told the court that Majeed had also asked him for "tips", believing Pakistan had lost every match in their 2009-10 tour of Australia "intentionally".
"Majeed started by treating us in the same way as the general public would do," he said. "Making fun of us, that sort of thing. He'd say things like sending text messages, 'If something is going on, give me a tip.'
"I didn't like it. I felt very bad about it. Once or twice I tried to say to him this is not the way we do things, to lose intentionally.
"Initially I would negate everything and clarify myself and the team. I would try to get rid of the conversation and go to another topic."
The following year, during Pakistan's third Test against England at the Oval, Butt received a late-night call in which he was asked to bat out two maiden overs. He declined. "When I said, 'Bro, just leave it, OK,' I said it because he had started the same thing all over again," said Butt, again through an interpreter.
"I thought he was showing off that I might do him a favour. I was slightly suspicious. I had had enough of that conversation. I said no to him. I wanted to put an end to that.
"Never in my whole life would I do anything like that. I always play my cricket in a certain way: always to do what the situation requires."
Ali Bajwa, Butt's lawyer, opened the defence by telling the jury it should consider whether there is evidence that Butt was personally linked to attempts to fix events during the fourth Test of the same tour, at Lord's.
Bajwa claimed in court that Mohammad Amir – who along with Majeed, Butt and the bowler Mohammad Asif is charged with cheating at gambling and accepting corrupt payments but is not currently standing trial – was involved in a "criminal conspiracy".
"I anticipate everyone can agree on one thing: that there was a criminal conspiracy between Majeed and Mohammad Amir," said Bajwa.
"Majeed told the former News of the World journalist [Mazher Mahmood, whose exposé ultimately led to the charges] when Amir would bowl a no ball.
"He called Amir and said he should do 'everything as discussed before'. He did precisely as told and then couldn't do the other no ball because rain stopped play.
"Each time Amir bowled a no ball he overstepped by a considerable difference. We concede that is strong evidence between Majeed and Amir and that there could not be any sensible innocent explanation for it."
He said: "Are we sure Butt was in on a criminal conspiracy? Butt was not and had never allowed himself become a party to it." The trial continues.
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