ICC lifts life ban on Ata-ur-Rehman

'From May 2007, Ata will be free to play cricket as he wishes' - ICC President © Getty Images

Ata-ur-Rehman, the banned Pakistan fast bowler, has been reinstated on the official players' list and can play from May 2007. Rehman, 30, was one of those implicated in Pakistan's controversial match-fixing inquiry five years ago - he admitted to lying under oath after initial statements - and was serving a life ban from the game handed him by the ICC in 2000.

"From May 2007, Ata will be free to play cricket as he wishes," Malcolm Speed, the Chief Executive Officer of the ICC, clarified, "in England - league cricket, county cricket - or wherever he may be selected.

"We've received no further application from any other player," he said when asked about Mohammad Azharuddin. "the provision is been in place since 2003 to enable an application to be placed. If and when an application is made from any other player, we will deal with it in the same way."