cricket scandals

[fromage]

Well this is a bit of a 'hot potato ' at the moment so a bit of care first.
Let's be clear from the start that I'm not accusing anyone of anything, just reporting the facts.

the object of this conversation is to .
1 discuss cricketing scandals and if we think they've been dealt with effectively
2 discuss why they happen and how to deal with them.

I've not got a big drum to bang against any particular team or player, and I respect (but maybe disagree or agree with)any judgements made by governing bodies or legal judgements.

So, go make a cup of coffe, it'll take a good half hour to trawl through this.

A brief history of Cricketing Scandal.
Match fixing
Cricketers banned for match fixing

List of cricketers banned for match fixing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Betting scandles
Betting controversies in cricket - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Botham's ahes 1981
England had been made to follow on and only one team had ever won a test from that position Bookmakers started offering crazy odds and some players in the Australian team asked a third party to place a bet and collect money .
Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh took the bet, no punishment was given and there was never any suggestion of match fixing or under performing.


Cronjegate (lnk BBC SPORT | CRICKET | 'Cronjegate': A timeline)
In 2000 it became clear that cricket had been a victim of some betting scandal when a player, the late Hansie Cronje admitted that he had accepted money forecast the result.
Other player were involved, Herschelle Gibbs, Nicky Boje, Pieter Strydom and Henry Williams.
Gibbs and Williams got a six month ban, Gibbs tearfully explaining that he renaiged on his part of the bargain, scoring into the seventies, and played again, Boje refused to tour India after the allegations were made and Strydom was acquitted.Cronje was given a life ban and his death in a plane crash soon after meant that life was indeed life.Cronje never played international cricket again , but the ban was softened so that he could do media and coaching work.

John the bookmaker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_(bookmaker)

This was an Indian bookmaker who allegedly gave money to some key Austrialian players in 1998 , Mark Waugh and Shane Warne.
Both players were punished secretly, by the Australian cricket authorities and the ICC took no action.

The Malik affair match fixing scandal and Justice Qayyum's report.
BBC News | CRICKET | Justice Qayyum's report
(BBC SPORT | Special Events | 2000 | Corruption in Cricket | Match-fixing report: The main points)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/in_depth/2000/corruption_in_cricket/763483.
Once again in 2000, and using testomony from bookmakers. Several international players were named, and as a result several players were banned or fined, Salim Malik was banned for life.(BBC News | CRICKET | Malik guilty of match-fixing)

Marlon Samuels ban
marlon samuels was/is a very promising player for the West Indies and was banned for recieving money from bookmakers by the ICC. He was found guilty of breaking rules designed to stop players betting on matches.
Marlon Samuels - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maurice Odumbe affair
This Kenyan player was suspended and then banned for five years in 2004 for receiving money from bookmakers.
Maurice Odumbe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2010 Allegations made about Pakistani players and matches involving England and Australia.
During the 4th Test of 2010 Pakistani tour of England, English newspaper News of the World published a story with allegations that Mazhar Majeed and some of the Pakistani players were involved in spot fixing
Spot fixing allegations were made about no balls by The "News of the World" newspaper.

Scotland Yard police seized mobile phones from Pakistan's Salman Butt following News of the World's cricket match fixing expose | News Of The World


So this shows a rough timeline of betting 'for a joke' for personal gain naivety to blatent match fixing. In between many top names have been accused, from Kapel Dev to Alec Stewart.

Sporting controversy

Body line
Bodyline - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Throwing/action problems (List of international cricketers called for throwing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Cheating by altering the ball. (Atherton )
Atheton claimed it was to dry his hands but I saw him rubbing it on the ball.Look for yourself.

Cricket: England v South Africa:First Test Stock Footage from Thought Equity Motion



Even an aluminium bat was used, though from memory I believe it wasn't illegal to do so at the time, but now, you must have a wooden bat

to finish, try a read of this excellent article by Angus Fraser.

Clean bowled: Why cricket has double standards over cheating - Cricket, Sport - The Independent

Did I forget anything? probably.But that's where you come in in the conversation.Your job, to coment and give feedback.What's your views on this dark area?

 

[Matt79]

Yeah, shenigans have gone hand-in-hand with cricket for a long time.

Lillee was the player who brought an aluminium bat on the field. He had got involved in a company that was manufacturing them at the time and did so to promote them. It wasn't illegal then, but was made so shortly afterwards. He didn't try to conceal what he was doing or anything.

Without wanting to apply double standards, Lillee and Marsh's bet in 1981 occurred in a different time, when the prospect of match-fixing in cricket wasn't really well known. There was nothing to suggest any corruptness on their part, and if I recall correctly, Lillee in his autobiography said they never collected the bet.

On the continuum of outrageous behaviour, I'd have ball tampering as a lesser evil than match-fixing/staging for betting purposes. Just a personal opinion, but somehow I can deal better with players bending/breaking rules to try and help their team win than I can with players acting against the interests of their team for personal gain.

 

[Noble One]

The Lillee and Marsh betting scandal is really quite amusing. I believe Lillee handed 10 pounds to the team bus driver and then Marsh jumped in with another 5 pounds. Simply a case of poor judgement.

So many interesting stories to come from the off-field during the 1981 tour of England. The quality of cricket matched the articles served up in the tabloids though.

 

[fromage]

It was Lille! I remember he threw the bat in a blue fit! Just read on the net that it wasn't illegal at the time.so, I guess we can just have a chuckle at that one. Must have made one hell of a noise.

I suppose back in '81 the betting scandals of today would be nigh on impossible, as TV wasn't as developed, (was satellite even around?) and Internet was non exsistent, so I guess that's just bad judgement rather than dodgy dealings.

I suppose perhaps rather sadly for cricket that the days of 'raised eyebrows ' and the vicar chocking on his tea and biscuits on a sunny afternoon in the deckchair , reading his copy of the 'Times of London' are long gone. Today's profesional sport with sponsers and Tv rights and radio rights etc is a far cry from the game I played on the village green, or even the games i watched on TV as a child;
twenty twenty, ODI have all changed the game and there is no going back.

Cricket does need to stop the rot. It's a game in crisis. its got to keep fans, sponsers, broadcasters and its image.

The list shows crickets never really been 'squeaky clean' and the phrase 'its just not cricket' and 'to bat with a straight bat' and 'before you go into bat you need to know this information' are all phrases from cricket's past.

 

[Matt79]

Nah, there were shonky dealings involving bookies before there was international cricket, and ever since. I think what is different today is the sums of money, the systematic picking off of players to take part, fans expectations, and the fact that it is now explicit that such dealing are illegal within the terms of the sport and will (should) result in a life ban.

 

[fromage]

I didn't even talk about the Bob Woolmer scandal (which at the time left me feeling very sad) or the questions over Cronje's death. (I think it was an accident, but others go down the rabbits hole. ) It's all a bit too much really.

Fans expectations are to see a fair game.
It could be good, it could be bad, but it must be fair. That's got to be true for any sport. Ok, in cricket, like any sport a bit of 'fiddling' goes on in the outfield, perhaps gamesmanship is a better word.
Rubbing a bit of suncream (illegal) or dirt(illegal) or saliva (legal) onto the ball or even the odd sledge or two and perhaps a fan will accept that as 'part of the game' but when it comes to taking money to make events happen then that's another matter.Perhaps fans need to question the gamesmanship.

Could the ICC introduce a 'play fair' award, like in football? If its illegall gangs of bookies or mafia hoodlums behind all this, then..... 'shrugs'

I just want to watch cricket, not a bookmaker make money.If I wanted to do that, I'd go down the road to the bookies or log on to a bookmakers web site.

 

[Matt79]

Yeah, the Woolmer incident doesn't look any better in the light of these recent revelations. Or the Pakistan team's loss to Ireland that preceeded it. Or their loss other startling losses to associate teams at major tournaments.

 

[fromage]

It just gets very bad for Pakistan and I really feel for Pakistani fans.

But, perhaps now, at the bottom, the only way is up? or will there be more sordid details in the gutter press.

 

[Riggins]

not a big deal but your link for john the bookmaker is broken.

Just a personal opinion, but somehow I can deal better with players bending/breaking rules to try and help their team win than I can with players acting against the interests of their team for personal gain.

Guess I agree with this but a very slippery slope.

 

[fromage]

fixed that link, my apologies.

 

[Matt79]

not a big deal but your link for john the bookmaker is broken.



Guess I agree with this but a very slippery slope.

Oh definitely. Ball tampering is a very serious issue that should be harshly dealt with as well, but within the relative context of serious breaches of rules I reckon involving in 'fixing' any part of the game is the worst.

 

[GIMH]

I think matchfixing is so far beyond things like ball tampering that it isn't funny. In any sport, if my team loses to a dodgy decision I feel cheated as a supporter, but I feel like watching cricket against Pakistan has cheated me out of time as I thought I was watching enthralling series against ourselves and Australia.

 

[sledger]

So funny that so many of these stupid scandals seem to involve Pakistan. You'd have thought after so many stupid incidents such as these they would have begun to get the idea

 

[fredfertang]

Had the New Zealand authorities not arrested the England party's only wicketkeeper and detained him on the basis of some scurrilous nonsense about a betting scam then Australia probably wouldn't have won the first ever Test match back in 1877

 

[four_or_six]

Had the New Zealand authorities not arrested the England party's only wicketkeeper and detained him on the basis of some scurrilous nonsense about a betting scam then Australia probably wouldn't have won the first ever Test match back in 1877

I wonder what the world would be like now. Imagine... we would have been world champions for years and had all these all-time great players. It's like the butterfly flapping its wings thing.

 

[fromage]

I wonder what the world would be like now. Imagine... we would have been world champions for years and had all these all-time great players. It's like the butterfly flapping its wings thing.

What becons for Pakistan now then, in the light of these accusations? Will the butterfly's wings cause a hurricane?

 

[alisidy]

I am doing a dissertation on this

Please complete my online questionnaire for my university dissertation it is on this subject

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YSF8K7Q

Thanks