LONDON: Pakistani players have been convicted on charges of manipulating the results of cricket matches

The jury at the Southwark Court in London found Salman Bhat, 27, the former captain of Pakistan and Mohammed Assaf, guilty of conspiracy to cheat and conspiring to accept bribes to deliberately defeat a game against England last year.

A third player, Mohammed Amir, was admitted before the trial began with charges against him.

Last year's "News of the World" scandal sparked pictures of the British-born Pakistani Mezher Majid, a sportsman, who received 150,000 pounds ($ 225,000) and paid.

According to the newspaper, Mezher Majid told the interviewer that the Pakistan cricket team will lose the fourth game in the series of international matches with England on the Lords.

Majeed said the loss would be achieved when two players from the Pakistani team make mistakes in a deliberate way, which happened in the game when three mistakes were made deliberately.

This is believed to have been linked to financial bets on the expected results of the games in August 2010.

The verdict was handed down by the jury after a lengthy deliberation session lasting about 17 hours.

The judge decided to extend the bail period for the Pakistani players until they are sentenced later this week.

Our correspondent in Lahore, Aleem Maqbool, said the four-week trial was the focus of Pakistani media.

While James Pearce, the BBC's sports correspondent, confirmed the conviction raised questions again about the fairness of cricket matches and their association with betting.