Indian T20 - the WWE of world cricket...

Bookies running amok in Indian game


Peter Roebuck
December 6, 2008

THE bookies are back. Probably they never went away, just further underground. After all, one of them blithely describes himself on his curriculum vitae as an arms trader, drug supplier and cricket-match fixer.

No bookie was convicted in the aftermath of the scandal that exposed several Test captains, itself only a sample of those involved. Instead, the spotlight was fixed on important players caught taking bribes to follow the instructions of their paymasters. The Herald did visit "John", one of the bookies, in his jewellery shop in Delhi, but the request to spill the beans was rejected on the grounds that 100 rupees ($3) was insufficient motivation.

Doubtless the bookies laid low for a few years after the exposure and appointment by the International Cricket Council of corruption officers. Presumably, they kept taking bets from avid punters because it was easy money but they might have stopped actively recruiting players. They had a good run lasting from the early 1980s to the high point of the Mohammad Azharuddin, Salim Malik and Hansie Cronje scandals, and realised the time had come to show discretion.

But 20-over cricket has lured them from their hideaways. Conversations with Indian Cricket League players confirm that the bookmakers are running amok in the rebel league, and it'd be the height of folly to assume that the Indian Premier League has remained intact. These players talk about strange events in matches, and one thinks he played in a match both sides were trying to lose. Others speak about batsmen suddenly playing out a maiden or padding up to a spinner, an odd technique to use in a 20-over contest. They talk about long faces among a few teammates after a match had been won thanks to an innocent youthful rally. And they confirm it is possible to be unaware that colleagues, even captains, are following a preordained plan.

Of course, the ICL is aware of the dangers. Before the competition began, officials asked the ICC to provide corruption officers to supervise the contests but the game's governing body pointed out that it had no jurisdiction over a breakaway domestic tournament and advised ICL to make its own arrangements. To that end, officers were appointed. They earned their corn as well, monitoring events and uncovering dodgy dealings. Most particularly they kept an eye on players making mobile phone calls during play, and sometimes even bugged them. After all, that was how Cronje was exposed.

At one stage, the ICL detectives isolated and interviewed an entire team, took affidavits and rooted out the problem. Some of the players, including older hands, were shocked to discover they had been living a lie. One described the period as the worst fortnight of his life. Officials were amazed to learn cricketers could be offered $US40,000 ($62,040) merely to score five runs or fewer in the 10th over of an innings. Match-fixing is not primarily about the fixing of matches. That is much too hazardous. It's about spread betting. Means of dismissal and the timing of the first wide are favourites. And it's not the preserve of players. Owners of franchises can place hefty bets and influence contracted cricketers. In other words, the temptation is widespread. For instance, English TV commentators might hear about a spread bet on how many times Inzamam-ul-Haq's running between wickets is mentioned on TV that day …

By all accounts, ICL officials believe their investigations have merely exposed the rump of the problem. At least the ICL confronted the challenge. It could easily have let things roll along. Instead it tried to ensure that right is done, the contest is genuine and paying customers are treated with respect. It was also important to support the majority of sincere cricketers on its books, and the young idealists desperate to make their names. On every front it is a question of legitimacy.

Certainly, the ICL inquiries have shattered any lingering complacency that the game was squeaky clean. Conversations with IPL players suggest that the official brand is equally vulnerable to outside forces. No stone must be left unturned to rid the game of malefactors. After all, the IPL includes numerous players of untarnished reputation entitled to be treated with respect and protected from the unsavoury. To that end, the BCCI and IPL need to step up their anti-corruption activities. They could start by talking to ICL officials, and obtaining from them the names and numbers of the identified "businessmen".

Of course, it is a pity that India does not permit gambling. Regardless, the bookies are back, and cricket must nobble them.

I haven't paid enough attention to the IPL or the ICL to have an opinion on whether this is true or not, but if it is, it wouldn't surprise me greatly.

I thought the whole raison d'etre of ICL/IPL was to fill the coffers with cash . . . you expect the bookies not to want part of that? I'd suggest they were in it from the bottom up . . .

but t20 is good for the game, taccy...

It might well be, zatty, but that game ain't cricket . . .

they're on steroids???

They're all on the popcorn Nath.

Now Dizzy is sticking up for ICL...

'Test cricket is in trouble' - Gillespie
Cricinfo staff
December 6, 2008

Jason Gillespie flies into bowl for the Ahmedabad Rockets in the ICL © ICL

The former Australia fast bowler, Jason Gillespie, has issued a stinging attack on Cricket Australia for its treatment of him and accused the board of ingratiating itself with the BCCI.

Gillespie's association with the unsanctioned ICL effectively led to his banishment from first-class cricket. And although he is in the autumn of his career, he nevertheless feels his international career has consequently been unfairly curtailed by CA's position on the status of ICL players.

"For guys like myself and [fellow ICL players] Jimmy Maher and Michael Kasprowicz, our time playing international cricket has gone by, but some of us would like to still represent our states," Gillespie told Adelaide's Sunday Mail. "It's quite sad. The ICL isn't wanting to take guys out of state cricket and Test cricket. In our contracts it clearly states that if you are asked by your state or country to play that form of cricket, ICL will not stand in your way."

"The problem is the BCCI have come out and said they're upset and won't allow it. He [Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman] said the IPL would not affect the future tours programme, but clearly it has."

Unlike the IPL, the ICL is not officially recognised by the ICC. Subsequently, certain boards banished players from representing their domestic teams, and the boards' apparent kowtowing to the BCCI marks a worrying time for Test cricket, Gillespie felt.

"I can see a time where countries will be bypassing Test cricket altogether," he said. "With more Twenty20 Leagues, it will go the way where representing your country will take a back seat. For Australian and English players it will always be the pinnacle, but I'm not sure it's the pinnacle for any other countries.

"All other countries don't see Test cricket as the be-all and end-all any more. Test cricket is in trouble, there's no doubt about that."

Now 33, Gillespie is turning his attention to coaching, but even that may be restricted by CA. "I was talking to Troy Cooley [Australian head bowling coach] before and he's keen to get me into the Centre of Excellence but I'm hoping these ridiculous rules of Cricket Australia don't extend to coaching because I think that would be quite sad."

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