Cricket Match between England and Pakistan Rigged: Fixer Caught Red-handed
Cricket Match between England and Pakistan Rigged: Fixer Caught Red-handed Accepting Money
Sun, 2010-08-29
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The ordinary people in Pakistan are reeling from the floods which, by all accounts is the worst in its history. So, the cricket team that represents the country is supposed to play in a clean manner at a sensitive time not only to improve the battered image of the country, but also to lift the morale of its cricket-crazy people. Unfortunately, the team has done nothing to address either.
On the contrary, they have not only let down their countrymen in the hour of their need, but also brought the game to disrepute – and at the birth place of the very game, the Lords. Their behaviour makes mockery of the religious observations made by the team during the Ramadan.
An undercover reporter from the News of the World paper from London reported last night that a fixer named Mazhar Majeed struck a deal with him to fix the match for £150000.
The photographs of the fixer accepting the cash are flashed across the front page of the paper. It will anger the Pakistani fans, both at home and across the world, to the core. Pakistani fans who got the wind of the news are already venting their fury in blogs.
The fixer has identified Salman Butt, Pakistani Captain, as the ring leader; wicket keeper Kamran Akmal had also been named as a culprit.
After accepting part of the cash, Majeed had promised the undercover man that he would prove how it worked and he did – Pakistani players have delivered no-balls at the time Majeed predicted that they would do during the last Test match at the Lords: Star bowler Amir did deliver the promised no-ball on Friday.
Majeed had boasted that seven corrupt players are in his pocket. Whether he is referring to the whole Pakistan team or the other team members from the Indian subcontinent, remains to be exposed.
Meanwhile, Scotland Yard had arrested a man for questioning and Pakistani players will be interviewed soon with the aid of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
The first man to handle the issue will be Ranjan Madugalle, the match referee and the former Sri Lankan captain. However, the issue is so serious that it requires the involvement of the chairman of the International Cricket Council to sort out the mess in the game.
asiantribune
Sydney Test was fixed, claims agent
Sydney Test was fixed, claims agent
August 29, 2010 - 6:34PM
Australia's dramatic Test victory over Pakistan at the SCG in January is looking more tainted by the day.
As the cricket world reeled from allegations that the Pakistani Test team had been involved in spot fixing during the ongoing Test against England at Lord's, the man at the centre of the sting claimed that the Sydney result had been engineered to order.
Player agent Mazhar Majeed said the Sydney Test was "the last Test" where the result had been rigged, after Pakistan reached a position where odds against their defeat were prohibitive.
"Let me tell you the last Test we did. It was the second Test against Australia in Sydney. Australia had two more wickets left. They had a lead of ten runs, yeah. And Pakistan had all their wickets remaining," Majeed told The News Of The World.
"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.
"That one we made 1.3 (million). But that's what I mean, you can get up to a million. Tests is where the biggest money is because those situations arise."
While Cricket Australia has always maintained the belief that their players won the match "fair and square", the evidence for underperformance was hard to dispute.
Plenty of events in Sydney did not add up.
There were the dropped catches and missed run out of 'keeper Kamran Akmal, and the bizarrely defensive fields used by the captain Mohammad Yousuf when Mike Hussey and Peter Siddle clawed Australia to a narrow lead.
Also up for analysis were the series of suicidal shots played on the match's final afternoon as the last nine Pakistani wickets went down for 89 runs.
Before he left his post as the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption boss in May, Lord Condon indicated he had grave concerns about the Sydney Test, but was unable to pin down the players' motivation for underperforming.
"It is a match and series that worried us, we spent a lot of time talking to the players and PCB. The challenge is finding where is the solid fact," Condon told reporters.
"What you have there is a lot of strife within the team and Pakistan politics with rivals camps making allegations.
"We are satisfied that was a totally dysfunctional tour from a Pakistan point of view.
"The dysfunctionality in the dressing room led to players not performing well, to maybe players potentially underperforming deliberately.
"What we still need to establish is whether that was because rival camps wanted to do down captains or potential captains, or whether it was more serious, doing it for a financial fix."
In light of Majeed's words, the investigation may need to be re-opened.
AAP
Sydney Test was fixed, claims agent
Pakistan - a corrupt society
Cricket meets its match: history of fixing the product of a corrupt society
Scyld Berry
August 30, 2010 - 9:08AM
It is only natural that cricketers - or some of them at least - should reflect the society from which they come. And Pakistan is, and has been almost throughout its existence, riddled with corruption.
England supporters - and westerners in general - may tut-tut and disapprove of Pakistan, from its cricketers who have been implicated in match-fixing over more than two decades to its president, Asif Zardari, who chose to flaunt his wealth while the country he is supposed to rule was flooded. But, uncomfortable truth be told, Britain and the United States have complied with the governments of Pakistan in the basic form of corruption which pervades the country and derails society.
Full article here: Cricket meets its match: history of fixing the product of a corrupt society
