PakPassion's Saj offers a personal insight into his attendance at the final day of the Pakistani trio's spot-fixing case at Southwark Crown Court.

 Saj Sadiq (4 November 2011)

Apologies if this is a ramble, but it's been a long day, well it's been a long week, no actually its been a long month.

As you all know I was in court today at the spotfixing trial and in all honesty my head is still spinning. A day of mixed emotions, a roller coaster ride and a day that was probably different for Pakistani cricket lovers and for myself having dealt with all three players for interviews, having met them a number of times over the years and having dealt with Majeed for interview purposes with the players.

I will do a writeup soon of my time in court following the trial but really wanted to emphasise that moment that the defendants picked up their bags and realised that their freedom was over.

The seating of the defendants today was Majeed far right, Butt to his left, then Asif, then the interpretor, then Amir to her left. The four of them and the interpretor were flanked by uniformed prison officers and locked in an enclosed seating area.

All of them were seated behind a plastic security screen with media and public to their left and right, with further seating behind them for the public. 

I was sat about 5 yards to Amirs left with a clear view of all the defendants. I still could not believe what I was seeing, even though I knew of course what to expect today.

The judge finished his summary and confirmed each of their sentences one by one and then when he was done he stood up. All the court then of course had to stand and Justice Cooke left the courtroom.

Despite all the crucial moments of this trial, the verdicts, the accusations, the counter accusations, the surprises, the sentencing, the most poignant moment for me of this whole trial was when the 4 of them stood in the dock and as the judge left the courtroom, they picked up their bags and realised that their days of freedom were over.

I looked over at the 4 of them and immediately my thoughts turned to their families, Amir's family in Pakistan, Butt's family including the new born son that he has not yet seen, Asif's family including his few month baby daughter and Majeed's family including his few month old son.

A million thoughts just flashed through my mind at that time and in all the mayhem and noise I literally just blanked everything going on around me, all the chat, all the confusion and just focussed on the players.

They just looked confused, almost dazed, not knowing what was happening and what would happen now. All of them looking at each other literally in despair.

Then the doors were opened by one of the prison officers to take them down to the holding cells in Southwark Crown Court. Each of them then picked up their respective bags and looked at the prison officers for direction and at that moment their whole lives must have flashed past them, at that moment they will have realised how serious things were. At that moment they will have realised what was in store for them in the coming days, weeks, months and for some of them, years.

Gradually flanked by the prison officers and one by one they disappeared into custody and into a world of the unknown, still looking dazed, confused and almost at a loss as to what was going on.

No "take them down" comment fom the Judge, no handcuffs, no tears, no shouting from friends and family but still a moment that they will never forget and one that I will never forget.