| A sports agent and a cricketer jailed over spot-fixing face a wait to find out if appeal judges think their convictions are unsafe. Mazhar Majeed and former Essex player Mervyn Westfield - the first county cricketer in England to be prosecuted for spot-fixing - were given custodial terms in separate cases. The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, and two other judges at the Court of Appeal in London, are now being asked to overturn their convictions. After hearing legal argument on Thursday the judges reserved their decision to a date to be decided. Both appeals were heard together as they raise the same point of law. The men pleaded guilty following pre-trial argument and rulings. Their conviction challenges centre on the correct interpretation of gambling and betting legislation. It is argued on their behalf that the offences charged did not reflect the facts alleged. Majeed, 36, from Croydon, south London, was sentenced in November to two years and eight months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to make corrupt payments. Westfield, now 24, from Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to four months in prison at the Old Bailey in February and has since been released. He pleaded guilty to one count of accepting or obtaining a corrupt payment to bowl in a way that would allow the scoring of runs. He was accused of being paid £6,000 to bowl so that a specific number of runs would be chalked up in the first over of a match between Durham and Essex in September 2009. As well as the jail sentence, Westfield was the subject of a confiscation order for £6,000. In the case involving Majeed, three Pakistan cricketers also received custodial sentences at London's Southwark Crown Court over a scandal that rocked world sport. Former Test captain Salman Butt was jailed for two-and-a-half years for his role as the "orchestrator" of a plot to bowl deliberate no-balls in the 2010 Lord's Test against England. Mohammad Asif, the former world number two Test bowler, was sentenced to 12 months. Mohammad Amir, who had been tipped to become one of the all-time great fast bowlers, was sentenced to six months. All three players are serving five-year bans from cricket imposed by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Amir and Butt failed in an attempt to have their sentences reduced at the Court of Appeal in November. |