Cricket: A judge has rejected disgraced teenage Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Amir's claim that he was only involved in fixing one match.
Fast bowler Amir, 19, pleaded guilty to plotting to bowl deliberate no-balls in the Lord's Test against England last summer - but insisted this was "an isolated and one-off event".
However, Mr Justice Cooke ruled at London's Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday that text messages sent from shadowy contacts in Pakistan suggest the young cricketer was also implicated in fixing during the earlier Oval Test.
Amir's lawyers agreed a basis of plea with prosecutors when he admitted conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments at a pre-trial hearing in September.
This noted: "The defendant's involvement was limited to the final Test match at Lord's on August 26th and 27th. This was the defendant's first and only involvement, and was therefore an isolated and one-off event.
"The defendant only became involved as a result of pressure (not amounting to physical threats) and influence to the effect that if he did not become involved, he would suffer serious professional implications for his future career."
But the judge dismissed Amir's claim that he was not involved in fixing before the game at Lord's in north London.
"I refuse to accept that basis of plea on the material I have seen," he told the court. "There are certainly texts and the like which suggest that Amir's first and only involvement was not limited to Lord's, it was not an isolated and one-off event. What I have in mind are the various texts relating to the Oval Test."