Prime Minister David Cameron's brother goes in to bat for Pakistan's Mohammad Asif at 'spot-fixing' hearing

David Cameron’s barrister brother will lead the defence of suspended Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Asif when the fast bowler, his team-mate Mohammad Amir and former national captain Salman Butt face corruption charges at an International Cricket Council disciplinary hearing in Qatar, starting on Thursday.

Alexander Cameron, three years the Prime Minister’s senior at 47, is a Queen’s Counsel with extensive criminal case experience. His most high-profile clients so far have been disgraced Conservative ministers Jonathan Aitken and Lord Archer, both of whom were convicted of perjury following trials in which he appeared in their defence.

This week he will appear behind closed doors in Doha in the most significant corruption hearing in cricket since Hansie Cronje admitted match-fixing before the King Commission in South Africa a decade ago.

The outcome of the case, scheduled to last until next Tuesday, has huge implications for the viability of Pakistan cricket, the integrity of the wider game, and the ICC’s credibility as a regulator.

If found guilty the players, who deny the charges, could face bans of between five years and life. ICC sources said this week that it will press for the harshest possible penalties, matching the life bans handed down to Cronje, Mohammad Azharuddin and Salim Malik.

Butt, Asif and Amir face a series of corruption charges arising from their implication in a spot-fixing plot allegedly orchestrated by Butt’s agent, Mazhar Majeed, and exposed by the News of the World.