Lahore, May 11 : Six years after he was banned for life from playing all forms of cricket for and in Pakistan, former captain Salim Malik is expecting a reprieve from the country's Supreme Court, which has agreed to grant him an appeal hearing.

Malik was banned by a match-fixing inquiry in 2001 after three top Australian players accused him of offering bribes for them to under perform.

But after Saturday's decision by the Supreme Court, the 44-year-old cricketer was quoted by The News as saying that he was told he could start proceedings on May 19.

The May 2001 ban, imposed by an inquiry headed by high court judge Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum, also prevented him from holding any office or involvement in any cricket-related activity.

The ban was imposed after Shane Warne, Tim May and Mark Waugh claimed that Malik had offered them bribes during Australia's 1994 tour of Pakistan.

In 1995 Malik was cleared of the allegations by a one-judge commission on the grounds of lack of evidence.

However the Qayyum Commission, which conducted an extensive inquiry that also included recorded statements from the Australian trio in Australia, decreed there was enough evidence to ban Malik for life.