Cricket’s fight against corruption
Roar Guru Sport tugs at the heart in a way no other activity can. Sport, in its intact original form, is unscripted. Athletes win and lose, they laugh and they cry, but they exert themselves at all times.
It is what makes sport distinguished and this is why life bans are essential for any player or official involved in fixing – no questions asked.
Match fixing evokes sadness and disillusionment far greater than the financial implications of the act itself.
Sportsmen come from the same society as everyone else. In fairness, though, they attain fame far greater than people do in almost any other profession.
There has been a lot of sympathy for Mohammad Amir, the young Pakistan fast bowler who was recently released after serving half of his six-month custodial sentence for his part in a match fixing scandal involving former Pakistani captain, Salman Butt and fellow fast bowler Mohammad Asif.
The sympathy is not surprising, when raw youth is thrust onto a public stage and expected to be mature and discerning, the pressure can be immense.
How do match fixers end up in an environment that told them it was okay to do what they did?
Often, like Amir, the air they breathe in their vicinity shapes these kids and as such, the cricketing community must ask itself, what kind of air these youngsters are breathing.
Amir could not have been born corrupt, nor the other cricketers who have been linked to match fixing. Cricketing administrators must focus on the environment around these players.
The fact that four prominent international captains, Mohammad Azharuddin, Saleem Malik, Salman Butt and the late Hansie Cronje, have been found guilty of fixing offences we can no longer have confidence that a captain’s influence will be positive one.
We must therefore assume to enact a match fixing swindle, the captain must be involved.
ICC must continue to explore ways to ensure match fixing is expunged from our game. Ensuring team captains are allies in the fight against fixing; administrators of the game should inform anti-corruption officers that in addition to aggressively following phone and financial records, they should not be afraid to question those who they think are acting suspiciously.
Despite employing a zero-tolerance policy, the administrators should be prepared to make exceptions and invite convicted fixers back into the fold, in a non-playing capacity on one condition.
They are ready to be held up as examples of what not to do. Publicly standing up and admitting their guilt. Speaking about the humbling experience and dissuading other youngsters from treading the same path.
It is somewhat difficult to not feel sorry for Amir, but administrators cannot afford to share these feelings and while the game will continue to produce talent, there won’t be another game – which we all love – if fixing is to continue.
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June 1st 2012 @ 1:30am
Johnno said | June 1st 2012 @ 1:30am | Report comment
Life bans for all match fixers, i tell you what warney and mark waugh were lucky too.
June 1st 2012 @ 1:37am
Ian Whitchurch said | June 1st 2012 @ 1:37am | Report comment
Heres a copy of the Condon Report
http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/anti_corruption/condon-report.php
June 1st 2012 @ 9:46am
Pope Paul VII said | June 1st 2012 @ 9:46am | Report comment
The thing that annoys me most about Asif and Amir is that they are cracking good cricketers and should have backed themselves to win. Though it was only they who got sprung in England the previous Australian tour was extremely suss. They were the better team for the Sydney test and there were several moments in the other two when good old Pakistani fallibility popped up. That’d would be the backers I guess though, they don’t like risk.
June 1st 2012 @ 4:56pm
Brendon said | June 1st 2012 @ 4:56pm | Report comment
Pakistan’s performance against England in the last series shows much damage match and/or spot fixing was doing to their performances. Just not in the deliberate under-performing but team moral and confidence.
The real issue now is spot fixing by fringe players in the IPL. While the Tendulkar’s and Dhoni’s dont participate in any sort of matching fixing, they earn way to much anyway, the lesser known Indian players in the IPL don’t make huge $$ are open to bribery.
The BCCI was warned about this when the IPL started but have turned a blind eye as we have recently seen.
June 1st 2012 @ 5:24pm
Johnno said | June 1st 2012 @ 5:24pm | Report comment
I now have true suspicions about the Australia VS Pakistan 2009/10 test series in Australia.
-The SCG test now seems totally weird.
-1st session Pakistan bowled great and dominated set good fields. The when the aussies were on the ropes, in the 2nd innings, they set some totally bamboozingly fields that could not be comprehended for the situation and some totally easy catches. Then they collapsed and fell in a heap chasing a small total.
-Also Amir dropping ricky ponting in Hobart when he just came in , easy dropped outfield catch punter then goes on to make 200 plus from memory.
-Also the world cup 2011 semi final vs India.They dropped Tendulkar like 4 times and some of those catches were doable.
-And in that semi final they got off to a flying start chasing the total then mysteriously went slow in the middle order and picked it up at the end of the match or towards the end, when hope of victory was unlikely. But it was they way they picked up the pace. They played some totally defensive shots for the situations blocking bad balls, then miraculously started playing exquisite shots all around the stadium. It almost defied belief that these were the same players in the same body , moor like 2 people in the same body. Was very suspicious indeed.
And of course the series last year in England too ,pakistan had a hot shot team and really should of done better.
June 14th 2012 @ 11:03am
k77sujith said | June 14th 2012 @ 11:03am | Report comment
It’s a pity that the glorious game of cricket has been tainted for quite some time now by stories of match-fixing. Akin to racism in football (soccer), this weed seems to continue to spiral in cricket. Thanks.