I watched with shock and horror, an investigative documentary by Al Jazeera revealing just how much the bookies, the match fixers and their ilk, have permeated the field of cricket. The Hansie Cronje affair of 2000-01 acquainted me for the first time of players being bribed to underperform on the field in order to win bets, also called ‘match-fixing’. Then came the less complicated, less discernable and highly successful strategy of ‘spot-fixing’ wherein an individual player or a smaller number of them are made to score more or less during a predetermined session of 10-overs or field poorly, etc. By all accounts, this investigative movie has provided yet another absolutely shocking angle to the murky business of match/spot fixing in which bookies & match fixers now have unfettered access to cricket pitches which could be doctored with the help of curators for influencing favourable outcomes. I am certain, cricket fans across the globe would be left dumbfounded by these revelations.
Though Peter Lalor, an award-winning journalist and author, offers some optimism and writes this about the spot-fixing report from Al Jazeera’s documentary:
[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]An expert in the documentary talks about the batsman smothering a delivery apparently in an attempt not to score. It’s the same behaviour you would see in somebody battling to preserve their wicket in foreign conditions. And, if you have only two batsmen on your books how do you know they will be in for the 10-over period or for that specific over? It can’t be done.[/perfectpullquote]
The startling disclosures by Al Jazeera of bookies and players working hand-in-glove have once again shrouded the ‘gentleman’s game’ in dark clouds. Surely ICC needs to investigate these allegations seriously but history may suggest, whatever steps they take to end this corrupt practice the match-fixers have kept getting bigger, stronger, and murkier.
