The bad penny returns

A lack of decisive leadership is at the heart of the match-fixing and spot-fixing scandal that has rocked world cricket and which casts considerable doubt over the integrity of international cricket. South African cricket should, however be kept safe by its now well-regulated system, with proper and centralised contracts as well as good education on the dangers of corruption.

Mazhar Majeed, the man at the centre of the spot-fixing scandal, was arrested on Saturday 28 August, following the expose that claimed he was paid £150,000 to arrange a fix with the Pakistan cricket team who played and lost the fourth cricket test against England at Lord’s.

He was caught on camera by the News of the World claiming to have bribed Pakistan's bowlers to bowl no-balls at previously agreed moments during the test. He claimed to the paper to have up to seven players from the side working for him, though so far only four - Butt, Asif, Amir and Kamran Akmal - have been named.

Majeed also told the News of the World that he had made more than $1 million betting on the test against Australia in Sydney in January 2010

The former International Cricket Council chief Malcolm Speed has called for an investigation into the outcome of that test.

Ricky Ponting’s team trailed Pakistan by more than 200 runs after the first innings and, with eight wickets down in the second innings and only a 50-run lead when Peter Siddle joined Mike Hussey in the middle. Australia won courtesy of four dropped catches by

Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran – including three from Hussey, who, with the aid of some extraordinary field placings scored 134 not out.

The former Australian captain Ian Chappell said the new match-fixing revelations placed considerable doubt on the outcome of the Sydney test.

“Obviously, for them to lose that game, they had to be one of two things: the worst test players of all time or the best match-fixers of all time,” Chappell said.

Majeed claimed in a News of the World article that he had arranged the result in January in Sydney, and made $1,3 million dollars . “The odds for Pakistan to lose that match, for Australia to win that match, were, I think 40/1. We let them get up to 150, then everyone lost their wickets,” he said.

The England captain Andrew Strauss has called for life bans for anyone found guilty of match-fixing.

He was not only referring to the fact that the Pakistani bowlers Asif and Amir bowled three no-balls with deliveries in specific overs according to pre-arranged discussions with a spot-fixer, but also to players or a team fixing the outcome of a match by underperforming.

The ICC president Sharad Pawar has ruled out any action against the cricketers until investigations are completed.

South African measures

Tony Irish, chief executive officer of the South African Cricket Players Association, told Leadership Intelligence Bulletin the reason why SA players would not revert to such under-hand tactics or any form of match-fixing or spot-fixing, relates to the fact that the players form part of a well-regulated system, with proper and centralised contracts as well as good education on the dangers of corruption.

“Very often, the first approach to a player is a seemingly innocuous one, where spot- or match-fixers would ask a player how many players in the team would wear sunglasses on the first day of a test. We educate players very intensively on the dangers of being approached, and warn them that if they do not report such approaches, they are guilty of a breach of their contracts.”

Irish has warned that the ICC and the Pakistan board need to deal with this scandal urgently, aggressively and decisively.

“This scandal will turn people away from the game, because many might argue that they cannot take the game seriously now,” he urged.

Another reason that has contributed to the fact that most of the major countries protect their players against the snares of match- and spot fixing, is that the players are extremely well paid. This, though, is not the case in Pakistan, where the players do not receive competitive salaries and are not well-educated on the inherent dangers of corruption and match fixing.

Ten years on since Hansie

The shocking revelations on spot-fixing comes 10 years after Delhi police, on  7 April 2000, charged Hansie Cronje with fixing South Africa's ODIs against India in March of that year for money. They also released transcripts of an alleged conversation between Cronje and an Indian businessman, suggested to be a bookie, Sanjay Chawla.

On 7 June 2000  former South African cricketer Pat Symcox testified before the King Commission’s inquiry into the Cronje scandal that he had been approached by Cronje about "throwing" a match against Pakistan during the 1994-95 season. He also confirmed that during a team meeting in Mumbai in 1996, Cronje had conveyed an offer of $250,000 to lose a one-dayer.  (Source: Crickinfo, August 30, 2010)

On 8 June 2000 Herschelle Gibbs effectively sealed Cronje's fate, confessing he had accepted an offer from his former captain to make less than 20 runs in a one-day match in India earlier in the year in exchange for $15,000.

In 2000 a former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Paul Condon, was appointed director of the ICC's anti-corruption investigation.

On 7 November 2004 the New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming claimed he was offered £200,000 by an Indian sports promoter during the 1999 World Cup to join a match-fixing syndicate.

Marlon Samuels, a top-order batsman of the West Indian Islands, was banned for two years in May 2008 for allegedly passing on match-related information to an Indian bookie during the West Indies’ one-day series in India in 2007.

In August 2009 the ICC said its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU), on investigation, found "no substance" and "no evidence" to support suggestions that Pakistan players had contact with Indian bookmakers during their tour of Sri Lanka.

Perhaps these forms of corruption would disappear if Pakistan, like the ICC, would take decisive and strong action to deal with them.

The inception of the anti-corruption unit by the ICC, as well as centralised contracts and stringent proactive measures implemented by international players’ associations in Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand, have done much to reduce reports of corruption  over the past decade.

Reports have flared up around Pakistan in the past two years. One of the reasons is that Pakistan has demonstrated very little decisive leadership. On more than two occasions Asif was found guilty of using illegal substances, but no long ban was forthcoming. Shoaib Akhtar was found guilty of attacking and man-handling Asif, yet he is back on the pitch.

There were accusations of Mohammed Yousuf and Younis Khan being involved in practices that discredit the spirit of the Pakistani game, yet both are part of the Pakistan national squad.

The inability of the Pakistan board to deal aggressively and decisively with major offences is at the heart of the current crisis which is a major threat to the global popularity of cricket.

Fanie Heyns