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Mohammed Amir cleared to return with immediate effect

Tec15

First Class Debutant
If life bans are appropriate for spot-fixing, then what should be the penalty for taking performance enhancing drugs? That's certainly one of the most heinous, despicable, unforgivable etc, etc. ways of cheating known. What if you also have a record of taking money from bookmakers for "perfectly innocent information":whistling on top of that? Just asking for a "friend". :ph34r:
 
He still can't play International Cricket until October or September I guess. People in Pakistan still have mixed feelings about him, but personally I believe with the talent and change he's shown, he should be given a second chance and I do hope when he retires the cricket world remembers him with better words than he's remembered now. Good luck mate.
 

Tec15

First Class Debutant
I don't view either of those anywhere near as bad as fixing from a ban perspective.
Really? So pumping yourself full of performance enhancing drugs in order to get a leg up on the opposition, "cheating" if you will, is not as bad as bowling a couple of deliberate no-balls? Okay :hypocrite.
 

The_Bunny

State Regular
One is still trying to win/be the best, the other is selling out for cash, get where PEWS is coming from here.

Amir got off lightly here, but I dont believe it should be an automatic life suspension either, he was old enough to know better, but being in a culture where it was established amongst other players would have had a big effect on him ever doing it in the first place imo.
 

Top_Cat

Request Your Custom Title Now!
On balance, as a fan of the game, I want him back in whites and doing his thing.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Really? So pumping yourself full of performance enhancing drugs in order to get a leg up on the opposition, "cheating" if you will, is not as bad as bowling a couple of deliberate no-balls? Okay :hypocrite.
Yep, that's my position. Cheating is not anywhere near as bad as deliberately under-performing as far as I'm concerned.
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
Performance enhancing drugs are worse than spot fixing, IMO.

If sports around the world turn into the NFL, players have to make a choice between their health and their career. That is wrong.
 

Riggins

International Captain
As an aside, it's a pretty arbitrary cut off with what counts as a 'performance enhancing drug' and what's just 'modern sports science,' when you think about it.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Interesting opinion. I assume it's because the cheater is trying to win and the under-performer is not?
Indeed. There's lot of cheating in every sport I can think of. Some cheating is obviously more detrimental to the fairness of the game and is therefore given bigger deterrents, but from a purely moral perspective I don't think there's really a difference between taking performance-enhancing drugs and appealing for lbw when you know a batsman has got an inside edge, or not walking when you know you're out. Most professionals are going to cheat if they think they can get away with it; it's just a risk/reward analysis.

Deliberately under-performing is a whole different thing though. Perverse incentives just ruin the concept of sport entirely for me.
 
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GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Indeed. There's lot of cheating in every sport I can think of. Some cheating is obviously more detrimental to the fairness of the game and is therefore given bigger deterrents, but from a purely moral perspective I don't think there's really a difference between taking performance-enhancing drugs and appealing for lbw when you know a batsman has got an inside edge, or not walking when you know you're out. Most professionals are going to cheat if they think they can get away with it; it's just a risk/reward analysis.

Deliberately under-performing is a whole different thing though. Perverse incentives just ruin the concept of sport entirely for me.
Sorry the drugs/lbw comparison is absurd
 

Tec15

First Class Debutant
Indeed. There's lot of cheating in every sport I can think of. Some cheating is obviously more detrimental to the fairness of the game and is therefore given bigger deterrents, but from a purely moral perspective I don't think there's really a difference between taking performance-enhancing drugs and appealing for lbw when you know a batsman has got an inside edge, or not walking when you know you're out. Most professionals are going to cheat if they think they can get away with it; it's just a risk/reward analysis.

Deliberately under-performing is a whole different thing though. Perverse incentives just ruin the concept of sport entirely for me.
That's a pretty lame rationalization for blatantly unfair cheating. But speaking of "risk/reward", I don't consider deliberately bowling a few no-balls anywhere in the same moral plane as fixing an entire match and under-performing. Using your own logic, "Most professionals are going to spot-fix if they think they can get away with it" and as long as their actions are fairly minor and inconsequential in deciding a match. Too much money for doing very little. They could always say that it's no different than deliberately scoring slowly to help opponents you would prefer to beat progress, as certain teams did in the 1999 World Cup and other ODI tournaments. In the end I could say that it's the fault and sole problem of the betting firms which offer spot-bets in the first place. Hell, they could even rationalize the deliberate no-balls as not really any different morally than not stretching to cut of a ball because they don't want to risk getting injured. Both actions are ways of "under-performing".

Pretty poor logic from you, tbh.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
I actually did struggle to think of a good cricket example. When I've made the argument in the past it's been on rugby league forums and used the examples of making a tackle when you're offside and raking the ball out in the ruck; they really are outright cheating acts that happen countless times every game, whereas the cricket examples I gave really aren't as such.

Obviously some cheating is more damaging than other cheating, and I've got no problems with much, much stiffer punishment for things like performance-enhancing drugs than in-game sports cheating, but I don't think we have to get sanctimonious about it. Cheating is part of professional sport and sportsmen will do what they think they can get away with, or what they think is worth the risk, to advance the goals of their team. Actions have consequences and if they get caught, they get punished, but I don't think it's an outright moral issue like fixing. Fixing is not just risk/reward in pursuit of the same end goal as everyone else; it corrupts the whole fabric of the game by introducing perverse incentives and it should result in a life ban.
 
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