Asim Mohamood Butt (24 October 1967 – 30 November 2009) was a

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

cricketer who was primarily a left-arm

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bowler, and also a hard hitting lower order batsman. He played five

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s (ODIs) for Scotland, all in the

1999 Cricket World Cup The 1999 ICC Cricket World Cup, also branded as England '99, was the seventh edition of the Cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted primarily by England, with selected matches also played in Wales, ...

. His best ODI bowling figures were two for 24 against

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

in a match where the Bangladeshis were limited to 183, but the Scots wilted in the low chase and Butt, coming in at ten, could only score one run. He tested positive for

MDMA 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), commonly known as ecstasy (tablet form), and molly (crystal form), is an empathogen–entactogenic drug with stimulant and minor Psychedelic drug, psychedelic properties. In studies, it has been used ...

during a match with

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

and was banned from cricket for a year.

Life and career

He played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

since October 1983, when he scored 40

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

and took one wicket in a drawn game against

Sukkur Sukkur is a city in the Pakistani province of Sindh along the western bank of the Indus River, directly across from the historic city of Rohri. Sukkur is the List of cities in Sindh by population, third largest city in Sindh after Karachi and H ...

in the 1983–84

Patron's Trophy The President's Trophy (formerly Patron's Trophy) is a cricket competition that is held in Pakistan. It was previously held between 1960–61 and 2018–19 but was refounded from the 2023–24 season. It consists of teams representing the governm ...

. His career in Pakistan included mainly one-day games, and only yielded one five-wicket-haul – in the 1984–85

against a Lahore Division side where he took five for 53 in the second innings. In

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

he made his debut for Scotland, in a

Benson & Hedges Cup The Benson & Hedges Cup was a one-day cricket competition for first-class counties in England and Wales that was held from 1972 to 2002, one of cricket's longest sponsorship deals. It was the third major one-day competition established in Engla ...

game against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, where he was named Man of the Match after taking three wickets for 42. However, Yorkshire still won the match by three wickets. His international debut came in the 1998 Triple Crown Tournament, where he ended with the

bowling analysis In cricket, a bowling analysis (sometimes shortened to just analysis, especially in the phrase innings analysis, and also referred to as bowling figures) usually refers to a notation summarising a bowler's performance in terms of overs bowled, ...

of 10–3–14–1 against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, although this was a minor match that did not have

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

status. Butt also played for Scotland in the

2001 ICC Trophy The 2001 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament played in Ontario, Canada in 2001. It was the Cricket World Cup qualification tournament for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Three spots in the World Cup were on offer and the Netherlands, host nation Cana ...

, where he took five for 11 against

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, but only got one wicket in the remaining seven games. He did, however, top score in Scotland's five-wicket win over

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...

. Butt missed Scotland's first season in English National League cricket in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, but came back in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

with three wickets against Yorkshire. In a season where Scotland only managed two victories, Butt took 11 wickets at an average of 31.72. He also played three first-class matches in the

2004 Intercontinental Cup The 2004 Intercontinental Cup was an association football match that took place on 12 December 2004 between Porto of Portugal, winners of the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League, and Once Caldas of Colombia, winners of the 2004 Copa Libertadores. The ...

, where he was more successful, as he was Scotland's top wicket-taker with 16, including his second career five-for in an eight-wicket win over

– in a match where his bowling yielded nine for 72 in total. Butt's contribution played a major part in Scotland's qualification for the semi-finals stage, and he also took the first four wickets of the second innings in the final against

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, which Scotland won by an innings and 84 runs. Butt played three matches in the

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

season for Scotland, taking three wickets but being expensive, before he tested positive for

during a match with

. He was subsequently banned from cricket for a year. Butt died in his sleep, aged 42, in Lahore on 30 November 2009.

Death controversy

Butt's Pakistan born wife, now a UK national, claimed that she has strong suspicions that Butt faked his own death. She believes that the reason for faking his death is the fact that despite using all possible resources, she is unable to get his

death certificate A death certificate is either a legal document issued by a medical practitioner which states when a person died, or a document issued by a government civil registration office, that declares the date, location and cause of a person's death, a ...

. Due to Butt's alleged involvement with drugs and affairs, his wife thinks the motive behind faking death is either the drugs or another woman. However, Heriots Cricket Club's representative said they don't find any reason to believe that Butt faked his own death.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Butt, Asim 1967 births 2009 deaths Cricketers at the 1999 Cricket World Cup Scottish cricketers Scotland One Day International cricketers Scottish sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in Pakistani cricket Doping cases in cricket Pakistani emigrants to Scotland Cricketers from Lahore Pakistani cricketers Lahore City Blues cricketers Pakistan Railways cricketers Lahore City cricketers British Asian cricketers Scottish people of Kashmiri descent Scottish people of Punjabi descent Sportspeople of Pakistani descent

Life and career

Death controversy

See also

References

External links