Is cricket corrupt?
Saturday, September 4, 2010
By Des Kelly
Well, that's solved then. Job done. We can all pack up and move on. Who needs an investigation? Pakistan's High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan says he has spoken to the cricket players accused of corruption and already discovered 'they are innocent'.
'I have got to the bottom of it,' said our sleuth. 'I spoke to the players for two hours. They were set up.' So move along now. Nothing to see here.
Of course there is the inconvenient matter that Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer all appeared to deliver no-balls to order, exactly as an alleged fixer predicted on camera in an undercover sting.
But that is just detail, something the High Commissioner believes can be swept away in a bluster of indignation, scattergun counter-accusations and waffle.
Right now, the Pakistan authorities are in denial. As far as Hasan is concerned, there is need for a diplomatic silence until the charges are proved either way.
It is far easier for Pakistan to paint this sporting scandal as part of a wider conspiracy. The head of the International Cricket Council is an Indian, you see. The bookmakers involved in the alleged spot-fixing scam were Indian, too. 'That is why this whole frame-up has come about!' Hasan exclaimed. So, it was India's fault.
As misguidedly gung-ho public defences go, this was way past William Hague's effort. Had Hasan stuck to an argument that the burden of proof lay with the newspaper that made the accusations, innocent until proven guilty and all that, he might have garnered some sympathy.
As soon as he cast Pakistan as political martyrs to their Indian neighbours and political enemies, he was cast as a preposterous fool.
But the battleground was still shifting. Here, it might appear a simple case of whether three sportsmen took money to fix specific moments in a game; a topic for curious conversation between sips of tea and snippets of Radio 4 long wave.
That takes no account of the hysteria that surrounds cricket across the South Asian sub-continent (where sensitivities are such that even the phrase 'Indian subcontinent' is now frowned upon). Cricketers in India and Pakistan are idolised and inspire more devotion than a dozen David Beckhams on these shores. Cricket is their football.
And news that Pakistan's team were caught in yet another scandal was a terrible blow for a country that has little to cheer about right now. But it looks as if the events will be twisted and turned until the truth is lost, if Pakistani officials have their way.
After the ICC wisely suspended the accused players, the Pakistan High Commissioner - I cannot seriously call him a diplomat - was defiant.
'The ICC had no business to take action. The ICC is playing to the public gallery,' he said, noisily playing to the public gallery. He wanted to tell us the 'true facts', he said.
But it seemed difficult to imagine this blinkered, excuse-making apologist would ever be able to find the truth even if he was hunting for it with a pack of lie-detecting sniffer dogs, straining on leads held by Sherlock Holmes.
Hasan berated Scotland Yard and complained the charges were 'unhelpful'. This came just 24 hours after the delightfully named Ijaz Butt, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, insisted the trio of accused players would remain in the touring party unless official charges were brought - thus forcing everyone's hand.
And then you remembered who was really being unhelpful. Pakistan are guests in this country. They have used England as their base for a Test series against Australia because they are unable to play in their own land following a terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore last year. This was no way to reward their hosts.
On many occasions I have scorned the laughable priorities of female tennis players, who increasingly believe their main concern is posing as some kind of catwalk diva rather than bothering with the actual business of using a racket. So it is only fair that mention be made of women in sport who take their trade very seriously indeed.
England's women rugby team face New Zealand in the World Cup final at Twickenham Stoop tomorrow.
Having watched a couple of games recently (a lack of midweek football can do that to a man) I assure you the contests are fast, clean and very physical indeed.
In fact I wouldn't dare condescend to scorn it, mainly because they would probably beat the Pietersen out of me, which is exactly how it should be.
Pakistan are also due to return for the next two summers, although they might not be able to count on that invitation now.
That doesn't mean the News of the World allegations are automatically right. What they have looks comprehensive and sophisticated, but they will still need a watertight case to make this stick. Video evidence of implausibly wayward no-balls during play will not be enough.
But, regardless of guilt or innocence at this stage, the Pakistani officials should know when to shut up, rather than inflame the situation further by ludicrously playing the 'victim' card.
For all the posturing and the appearance of stern action by the ICC, you suspect this sort of incident would have never been mentioned but for the fact it was splattered all over a national newspaper.
The ICC have been feeble and weak in the past when faced with fraud. They have all the clout of a Parish council and it is usually possible to make coal in the time it takes them to deliver a conclusion to any enquiry.
For all the mentions of their Anti- Corruption and Security Unit, nobody can recall them actually delivering anything tangible. They claimed to have been 'keeping an eye' on the Pakistan team for several months, although many would surmise this is the sort of incident that would have been quietly killed over lunch in an oak-panelled room had it not burst into the public domain.
Equally, you can bet (although it might be best not to) that this is just the ugly tip of a substantial turdberg of corruption, with countless incidents of spot-fixing and even the rigging of entire games going undetected over a number of years right across the world.
A few have been caught in the past. But how many have not? We'll never find out, not if officials insist on playing politics.
The upshot is that every time a ball is dropped, or a foot steps over a line, we'll all shake our heads and wonder.
I'm going to reserve judgment on Manchester United's new signing, Bebe. I've decided to take the extraordinary step of waiting to judge whether he is worth £7million until I see him kick a ball. I consider this to be a requisite part of the process.
The fairy-tale of a 20-year-old Portuguese discovered in a homeless team during a street football competition is a compelling one. It's been fascinating and bizarre to read how his value suddenly rocketed.
I can even see how it is an extraordinary gamble by Sir Alex Ferguson, who made the uncharacteristic admission that he had never seen the player before he signed him, not even on DVD.
Yet it is too soon just to assume he will be a flop. The kid might have the raw talent and just need time to adjust. He may turn out to be the most inspired gamble of this or any season.
The truth is, we don't know yet, because . . . We. Haven't. Seen. Him. Play. For. United
PL's global gold rush
It's time for the Premier League to get the atlas out again. They might as well, because everyone else is.
The NBA are staging two regular-season basketball games between the New Jersey Nets and the Toronto Raptors at London's O2 on March 4 and 5 next year.
This follows on from the NFL's seasonal sell-out at Wembley, where the San Francisco 49ers will face the Denver Broncos at the end of October.
Sports are tripping over one another in the airport in the rush to go global and, with gates down and season ticket sales in a slump, the Premier League might suddenly find excursions into new markets more attractive.
Richard Scudamore's original plan to play fixtures abroad collapsed because he wanted to add a 39th game to the schedule, which unbalanced the symmetry of the league.
But there is one thing clubs always want to balance - and that's the books.
The excellent BBC tribute to the late Alex Higgins on Wednesday night stayed on just the right side of affectionate.
It delved into the snooker star's faults, his drunkenness, erratic temperament and fights. It skipped over his drug use somewhat while highlighting his obsessive gambling.
Throughout, it managed to retain a kindness and warmth while capturing his genius with superb archive material, stuck together rather beautifully by director and producer Jason Bernard.
It was also remarkable for the gracious contributions from fellow professionals, some of whom had more than enough reason to bear a grudge against the volatile snooker star.
As the credits rolled, I was glad to have had a reminder of Higgins in his prime. But also struck by what a boon it would be to have the likes of Dennis Taylor, Steve Davis, Jimmy White and Barry Hearn in your corner.
This page went to press before last night's international games, but having witnessed the ridiculous vilification of the England manager that has taken place over the last few weeks I know what will happen. Whatever the result against Bulgaria, Fabio Capello won't win. (You can check for England reactions from Des on Twitter.)
Labels: Cricket, Cricket Economy
posted @ 1:34 PM,
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