Would You Believe It – Match Fixing In Cricket

August 30th, 2010

Money talks everywhere, even inside the gentlemen’s game of cricket
In Pakistan the people are busy dealing with human tragedy arising from its worst-ever recorded floods in one part of the country and trying to combat the violent terrorism that is raging in other parts. Meanwhile in the UK the Pakistani cricket players, far from home, are pulling in the money by the foulest of means, namely, the ‘fixing’ of cricket matches. Cricket is the national sport of Pakistan and the population is as devastated by the cricket news as they are by the floodwaters and the suicide bombings. Money, as always, is a powerful motivator.

How it works
Someone with a criminal mind approaches a member of the Pakistan team and offers him large sums of money to bowl a couple of ‘no-balls’ at certain points in the match. The bowler, with one eye firmly fixed on the rewards, does as he is paid to do. The initiator then places huge bets with a bookmaker on the fact that ‘no-balls’ will occur at a particular time. He gets huge odds from the bookie as the occurrence of a no-ball is rare and the bet that it will happen at a particular moment in the game is almost a non-starter. He places large bets and cleans up accordingly. We haven’t heard from the bookmaker yet, but presumably he is no longer in business after the giant payouts he made.

The game
All this occurred in Thursday’s opening day of the fourth test that England went on to win by an innings and 225 runs.

Imran Khan
Former captain Imran Khan said that if the players are proved guilty, their punishment should be swift and substantial. “The loss to cricket, if media reports are true, will be immense,” Khan said. “The players involved should be punished so heavily that no other players dare to try it again.” Khan, under whose captaincy Pakistan won the 1992 World Cup in Australia, said he could not understand how Pakistan players would do something like match fixing. “They are so talented then why would they feel the need to do this? But if true this cannot and should not be forgiven.” Money, Imran, money!

Not a first
This is not the first time Pakistan players have been at the center of match fixing allegations. Several Pakistan players were banned and fined during Justice Abdul Qayyum’s inquiry into match fixing allegations against former captain Salim Malik in the 1990s.

Nor the second
An official said that allegations of match fixing were also raised earlier this year when Australia routed Pakistan both in test and one-day series. “Had the Pakistan Cricket Board taken some tough actions in March this year, maybe it could have sent some strong message to the players,” he said. “Instead the PCB started to distort the facts.”
It is hoped that the Pakistan government should now cooperate with Scotland Yard in the investigation.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 30th, 2010 at 8:31 am and is filed under Finance, Personal / Internet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Would You Believe It – Match Fixing In Cricket”

1. International Cricket Council 'had Pakistan players under surveillance' – The Guardian | Cricket says:

   August 30, 2010 at 4:32 pm

   [...] Would You Believe It – Match Fixing In Cricket « AdvanceLoan Finance Blog [...]

Leave a Reply

Click here to cancel reply.

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website