Cricket's already shaky integrity has been blown out of the water. Credibility has been destroyed and it's not coming back until someone with guts gets hold of the game
Cricket's already shaky integrity has been blown out of the water. Credibility has been destroyed and it's not coming back until someone with guts gets hold of the game. If a Test match at Lord's can be compromised by some braggart then nothing is safe. What price England's superb recovery in that contest? Nor does anyone any longer know the meaning of Australia's recent comeback at the SCG. Thank god for newspapers. These people have been laughing behind our backs.
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| Skipper tripper? Salman Butt |
Clearly some leading cricketers regard the game as nothing more than a scam. No obligations, no responsibility, no duty, no respect. No excuses. Senior Pakistan players were prepared to betray their team and so their country. They made grand gestures about donating money to the flood relief fund and meanwhile sold their sporting souls for forty pieces of silver.
Let's not hear any bleating about innocent till proven guilty. These blokes have been caught red handed.
Obviously the tour ought to be abandoned. People want to watch a contest not a dance. The culprits ought to be arrested and charged. The time for toleration passed long ago.u00a0
Cricket deserves better and so does Pakistan. By a conservative reckoning six cricket captains of that proud nation have been duplicitous. Where are they now? Commentating on television, coaching at high levels, milking the game, in the ICL or whatever else is going around. Cricket has not been serious about corruption. Too little has been done.
And let's not talk only about Pakistan. At least they did organise a rigorous investigation a few years ago under Justice Qayyum. Just that his report was not applied in its entirety; it was too damn hard. Too many folk heroes were involved. Although soft on Wasim Akram, the judge did nail the rest, demanded life bans. And then they went off to coach Pakistan or England.
Cricket is riddled with corruption.u00a0 India's most devious captain is now a member of parliament. ICL matches were rigged. Persistent rumours insist that leading IPL players have been bought and sold, and rumours can no longer be ignored. It has gone past that. An Australian player was approached in the inaugural edition of the Champions League. He reported the matter to the Board. How many less scrupulous cricketers have been approached? How many reports have been made? Only the complacent will believe it was an isolated case, and they lost the plot a long time ago.u00a0 The bond of trust has been broken. Not long ago an eminent cricketing figure was surprised to hear colleagues repeatedly talking about Inzaman ul Haq's running between wickets. He was asked to continue the conversation on air. Finally the penny dropped. The bookies were offering a spread on how often the topic would crop up. The boys were in the money. None of Channel 9's admirable commentary team was involved. Elsewhere supposedly great men went around at kissing Allen Stanford's feet and polishing Lalit Modi's shoes. It was enough to turn the stomach.
Conflict of interest is another form of corruption. Too many people work both sides of the ledger. Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar are on the IPL board and its commentariat. Jamie Cox works for South Australia and as a national selector. Neil Manthorp is a journalist and Zimbabwe Cricket's liaison officer. Such things have become common practise. Obviously cricket's costly anti-corruption unit has been found wanting. At least it exists.
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Mostly the ICC has taken too little notice of poor governance.
It's been a cosy club. Everyone has been getting rich. And this is the game that scorned John Howard?u00a0 Cricket is in urgent need of tough action and honest brokers. Admittedly it's not alone in that.
