Amir lawyer 'surprised' at CPS timing

10.40am Mohammad Amir's lawyer Shahid Karim has expressed his "surprise" at the CPS's decision to announce on Friday that they will pursue a criminal case against the three Pakistani players in the spot-fixing scandal.

In the first and so far only official reaction from any of the players to the CPS announcement, Karim spoke to Pakistan's Geo News this morning, before arriving for the hearing. "I will only say we are very surprised that one day before the tribunal was due to give its decision the CPS has done this," Karim said.

"It is very surprising and changes everything and complicates the situation. It is shocking. It changes our approach but I can't say more at the moment."

Amir also spoke briefly to the channel but understandably, given the situation, couldn't say much other than call on the nation's prayers for support.

Karim's acknowledgement that "their approach" has to change is possibly the only official indication that players may seek a deferment on the tribunal's verdict today. It is believed that, had the verdicts been guilty, Karim would've argued for lighter sanctions for Amir based on his age and past disciplinary record: allowances are made for both in the ICC's code of conduct.

In another update, Mohammad Asif actually arrived at the hearing without his lawyer Alexander Cameron but it is very likely he arrived before everyone and is inside already.

Stay tuned for further updates.

10.00am What may well be the final hearing into the spot-fixing case against three Pakistani players is now underway in Doha, Qatar. The hearing began at 9.30am local time and is scheduled to last the full day at the end of which a verdict as well as sanctions, if any, will be announced.

Salman Butt was the first of the players to arrive this morning, with his lawyer Yasin Patel, followed by Mohammad Asif, who arrived alone, and finally Mohammad Amir and Shahid Karim. The ICC's legal team, headed by David Becker - the body's legal head - was in bright and early before the players. Unusually the three-man tribunal of Michael Beloff QC, Justice Albie Sachs and Sharad Rao arrived last, about 15 minutes before the scheduled start; during the January 6-11 hearings, they were generally the first or second party to arrive.

The procedure for the day should be that the written verdicts are given to the players and the ICC by the tribunal first. If they are found guilty the lawyers and players will then go away to their private rooms in the complex and discuss how to handle the question of potential sanctions. The ICC is keen for maximum punishments - life bans - for all three. The players will, of course, seek to minimise them.

But we say should because a late spanner was thrown into the works by the announcement of the UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) yesterday when they said they will pursue a criminal case against the three in a UK court of law. That announcement sparked off fevered speculation in Doha last night that the players might apply, first thing in the hearings today, for another deferment of any potential verdict, arguing that it may prejudice the criminal case against them. Though reported in several places ESPNcricinfo has been unable to confirm definitively whether this will happen.

As a pointer, though, it's best to remember that the players have previously raised concerns about two concurrent investigations against them, arguing that, ideally, one should finish before the other begins. Butt had in fact made a request before the first hearings in January based on the same argument, to defer those hearings. The request was rejected by Beloff.

Incidentally, if guilty, the players face bans ranging from five years to life.

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