The Spot-fixing trial taking place in Southwark Crown Court completed it’s 19th day, today. As Pakistan's senior cricket team members bask in the glory of a victory against Sri Lanka in the 2nd Test in Dubai, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif are fighting criminal charges of "Conspiracy to cheat" and "Conspiracy to accept corrupt payments". 

With Mohammad Amir having accepted guilt, both Asif and Butt are left waiting for the final verdict to be delivered on their respective futures. The judge summed up the case for the jury last week after a riveting back and forth between prosecution and defence. The jury is now left to make their decision and perhaps change the face of corruption in cricket, forever. 

Against popular expectations of a verdict today and much to the disappointment of the large throng of reporters waiting eagerly for any breaking news, the Judge ordered further deliberations after a unanimous verdict was not reached by the 12 person jury. The jury were sent home by the Judge and are set to come back tomorrow for additional deliberations and to mull over evidence.

While the waiting game continued during the day, the mood amongst the defendants was tense as the verdict continued to loom over their heads. 

Salman Butt was frequently seen in discussions with his lawyer, Ali Bajwa. One topic of discussion was the imminent birth of his child, which was relayed to the judge. With this on his mind, Salman Butt anxiously waited for the verdict, but the jury came up with nothing prior to lunch. 

During the day, news of PCB’s deductions from the player’s account for legal charges made the rounds, providing a different avenue of discussions for the waiting throngs. The PCB allegedly deducted £20,000 from each players salary for legal fees incurred. The time spent by Salman Butt with his lawyer for that fee? 101 minutes!

Post lunch, the deliberations continued. After a while, the jury was called back in. The anticipation had reached it’s peak with pin drop silence among the reporters. However, the proclamation by the jury was anti-climatic for all observers. The jury explained they were unable to reach a unanimous decision on all counts. Many were left pondering what the bit about “ALL counts” meant. This could have been a reference to one or more of the four charges reaching a unanimous decision.

Meanwhile, the judge asked the jury to attempt to reach a “majority” decision. A majority decision in this case being when out of twelve jury members; ten or more gave the same verdict - guilty or not guilty. 

The ensuing wait also resulted in a spread of some baseless rumors - the most popular one especially popular amongst some Asian journalists that a 'hung jury' was holding up the verdict. In the event, these rumors turned out to be nothing more than a case of wishful thinking as the jury was called back into the room. The jury after 35 minutes of deliberations, post ‘majority decision’ directive, were asked to go home.

The trial thus goes into its 20th day - the futures of the accused still hanging in the balance.