Asif released from British jail

London, May 3 (IANS) Pakistan cricket Mohammed Asif was released from a British jail Thursday after completing half of his 12-month sentence after being found guilty in a spot-fixing scandal.

The 29-year-old Asif, a former World No.2 Test bowler, was released from Canterbury Prison in Kent on Thursday morning, his London-based law firm SJS Solicitors said.

In November, along with team mates Salman Butt and Mohammad Aamer, Asif was jailed after the Southwark Crown Court in London found the trio guilty of conspiring to cheat and accept corrupt payments over bowling deliberate no-balls bowled during the Lord's Test against England in August 2010.

Aamer was released in February after three months in jail and is currently back home in Pakistan. Butt and their agent Mazhar Majeed is still serving a two-and-a-half year sentence for their role. The court had identified the 27-year-old Butt as the "chief orchestrator" of the plot.

Asif is still under suspension from the International Cricket Council (ICC) and his lawyer indicated Wednesday that he will try to clear his name. Earlier, Asif had twice tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug nandrolone and was also detained in Dubai for 19 days in 2008 after opium was found in his wallet.

The fixing scandal was exposed when an undercover reporter of the now defunct News of the World approached Majeed.