Cricket-Pakistan's Akmal banned for breaching anti-corruption code

Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal has been banned from all cricket for three years after a disciplinary panel on Monday found him guilty of breaking his country's anti-corruption codes. Akmal, a 29-year-old right-hander who has played in 200 internationals across three formats of the game since 2009, was charged last month with two unrelated breaches of the Pakistan Cricket Board's Anti-Corruption Code.

The clause under which Akmal was found guilty relates to a failure to inform authorities about approaches to engage in corrupt practices, including match-fixing or spot-fixing. "He cannot play cricket at any level now. The detailed verdict will be issued by the panel later," a PCB spokesman said.