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Cricket needs to be clean and that starts at the very top

Lou Vincent's admission of match-fixing could be just the tip of an iceberg. (AAP Image/Hannah Johnston)
Expert
1st July, 2014
29

In the 1994 film Quiz Show, Ralph Fiennes plays Charles Van Doren, a university professor who is part of a rigged TV programme.

In the show, which is named ‘Twenty One’, Van Doren is given the answers to questions so that he can remain as a popular winner and, in turn, keep the ratings up.

A lawyer discovers this and the upshot of it all is that Van Doren ends up in front of Congress where he admits to his underhand antics.

Some of the panel applaud his actions but one member condemns his fraudulent behaviour for what it is.

This leads, in an indirect manner, to Lou Vincent’s confession for match-fixing earlier this week. That the New Zealander has come clean and publicly admitted to his wrong-doing is one thing, but affording him any sympathy is wrong.

Vincent, willingly, took money to influence the results of contests and the life ban administered by the England Cricket Board (ECB) is, and has to be, the correct punishment.

It should be hoped that Vincent, as a person, can get himself back on track. Coming clean is a start, but don’t ever applaud him for confessing.

As I mentioned in an article not too long ago, the only way for these kind of grubby, shameful, avaricious shenanigans to be cleaned out of the sport is for the perpetrators to be treated with nothing short of disdain.

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The game doesn’t need it and surely anyone who has an emotional connection thinks along the same lines.

But, there’s always a but.

We now have the game’s governing body, the ICC, chaired by an individual – Narayanaswami Srinivasan – who is currently under investigation for corruption.

In the light of Vincent’s outpouring the chief exectuive of the ICC, Dave Richardson, commented, “The ICC has a zero-tolerance approach towards corruption and these life bans, together with the life ban recently imposed by the ECB on Naveed Arif, should send out a loud and clear message to all those who indulge in corrupt practices and think they can get away with it.”

Bravo if that is the policy, as the hierarchy need to take a firm stance, but they have a head who, while yet to be proven guilty, hardly gives the necessary impression of transparency.

Being clean means being clean. Taking a step back as quickly as you can take one forward only muddies waters that can’t afford any contamination.

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