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According to reports, Gulam Bodi, a South African with three international appearances to his name, is the intermediary at the heart of a match-fixing investigation concerning the country’s Ram Slam T20 competition.
Bodi was charged in December by Cricket South Africa with contriving to fix, or otherwise improperly influence aspects of matches in the recently concluded competition.
Another instance of the sport being dragged through a seemingly never-ending gutter of moral decay by an individual who apparently hasn’t much knowledge of the seven deadly sins.
As a perfectly timed counterpoint to this revelation is the news that both Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif are back playing domestic cricket in Pakistan. This comes a few weeks after Mohammad Amir made such a successful comeback that he has now returned to the national side for their tour of New Zealand.
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I’ve argued the case on here before, back in May 2014, for cricket to become far more severe in its dealing with those intent on putting personal, ill-gotten gain at the top of their agenda and nothing in the intervening 21 months has made me want to change my mind.
Cricket SA have stated they will take a hard stance against such activity, and quite rightly so, yet the picture being painted by the collective authorities is far from a clear one.
If Bodi is found guilty then he could face a custodial sentence and given the fact Hansie Cronje was hit with a lifetime ban from the sport, it would be safe to assume a similar punishment being handed out in this instance.
But it feels off kilter that the Pakistani trio are back playing the game they didn’t mind tarnishing not so long ago.
Authorities will always talk of taking a hard line but time and again there are those willing to put two fingers up at the hierarchy. With betting a far more sophisticated animal than in years gone by – even in the past decade the landscape has changed dramatically – there is much more scope for dishonesty.
The emergence of short-form tournaments around the globe, not that the length of game is actually that relevant, has multiplied to the nth degree the extent to which cricket traders can get their talons into the sport.
There isn’t a form of the game which is bulletproof and if it’s televised then somebody, somewhere will be offering odds.
And when there are external elements willing to squeeze out whatever they, there will be gullible internal elements such as Bodi, who will be happy to take the plunge.
Unfortunately, that will never go away but what can be done is to strengthen the deterrent?
As more details emerge about the shenanigans in South Africa, there will be plenty of moralising taking place and thoughts about what should be done.
Some will want those found guilty, should that be the case, to never be allowed to have anything to do with the game again. Others will talk of rehabilitation and the opportunity to turn a mucky episode into something useful via education and so forth.
With regard to the latter that’s all well and good but, surely, a clean game is the ideal, no?
The punishments dished out down the years have failed to stop the same thing from occurring again and again so it is time to take a different tack.
Bodi, unwittingly no doubt but given the stupidity of some I wouldn’t be so sure, maybe about to provide those supposedly in charge of cricket with a gilt-edged chance to lay down a marker.
It would be diluted to some extent given that the World T20 next month could well feature a convicted fixer who has benefitted from an unduly lenient sentence, but you have to start somewhere.
I – and I hope the majority also – want to watch the Big Bash League, the IPL, a Test match or a one-day international, and take it for granted that nothing untoward is taking place.
That could well be too idealistic and there’s enough cynicism in my four decades’ worth of experience to know better but I live in hope.
The sport, or any sport, doesn’t need this sort of nonsense and it should be one strike and you’re out for good.
Get rid of them and don’t offer a route back.