Disgraced former Pakistan cricket captain Salman Butt decided at a lunch in Australia to get involved in illegal fixing, a court has heard.
Butt was jealous of the lavish lifestyle of younger team-mates involved in on-field corruption and made his ill-fated decision in January last year, the same month as a clouded Test match against Australia.
The claims were made in a London court on Wednesday as lawyers for three guilty Pakistani players and their agent traded accusations over roles in the fixing scandal, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Butt, fast bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif, and their agent Mazhar Majeed, whose guilty plea can now be reported, sat in the dock together for the first time as their sentence loomed.
The court heard allegations that Majeed had been approached by Butt to facilitate spot-fixing; other players had been involved in betting scams; and Asif had received larger payments to stop him defecting to another gambling racket.
He said at a lunch in Australia in January last year, Butt and another unnamed player told Majeed they wanted to get involved.
Majeed's lawyer said his client was "the arranger for the players - he was not the corrupter".
In a statement read to the court, Aamer, 19, said he had been trapped by his own stupidity and did not know if he had any future in the game.
"I want to apologise to Pakistan and to everyone that cricket is important to. I do know how much damage this has done to the game," he said.
The players and their agent were due back in court on Thursday for sentencing.
