Lateef Jafri: Metamorphosis in cricket: bribery and match-fixing (20 Apr 1998)

Monday, April 20, 1998

Metamorphosis in cricket: bribery and match-fixing

By Lateef Jafri

Fazal Mahmood, one of the giants of Pakistan cricket whose rhythmic bowling action and leg-cutters could shake and whisk away rival batting lines in his playing days, is usually reticent. Even though he was in the police and retired as a DIG he was hardly a politician in the game and rarely spoke his mind on cricket affairs of the country.

Now that he has crossed 71 and is a virtual veteran among survivors of the first phase of the country's cricket, he has lamented the changed attitude of the modern players and the money minting in the game due to large-scale marketing and sponsorship.

According to the Oval hero of 1954 the lure of money is ruining cricket. "In may playing days there was only cricket, enchanting cricket, for which the crowds would throng the venues, while nowadays it is only money, accumulation of money," regretted the famed bowler in a recent interview. Few may disagree with the line of thinking of Fazal except for the bosses of the multinationals who are investing money on cricket and cricketers for their own publicity and business ends.

In the good old days only the cups, shields and trophies were awarded - no showering of the hard currency on the players. Monthly pay packet from the railways, schools and colleges, government offices or private firms was just tiny compared to the hefty sums being earned by senior cricketers. The rajas and maharajas of Baroda, Holkar, southern Punjab (Patiala), Western India States Cricket Association (WISCA), comprising several princely units but essentially Jamnagar, saw to it that their teams were fighting fit but provided not the astronomical figures of today in monthly salaries. No doubt the combats were gladiatorial, delightful for the spectators.

Lala Amarnath, a foe of India's cricket Guru, Col C.K. Nayudu, when asked his views on limited-overs matches which in the opinion of a modern-day scribe has revolutionalized the game, only said, "you should have seen the stirring strokes of C.K., he was a real entertainer. As the fans coaxed him to hit sixers his athletic physique would oblige them with a spate of over-boundaries. He appeared to be improvising new strokes."

Amarnath, himself a forceful shot-maker, dispelled the impression that technique was flung to the winds. There was the indelible label of class in the elder Nayudu's drives; no deviation from the first principles, added the Lala, who captained India in the inaugural series against Pakistan in 1952-53.

Identical was the opinion of Mushtaq Ali, a stylist of yore and a draw on any cricket stadium and ground. Mushtaq praised sky-high the batsmanship of C.K., which had richness of art in it. Mushtaq's glances and late cuts had their own beauty and charm, which attracted the general public to cricket.

Where is the graceful and refined batting of Mushtaq Ali in the nascent cricket? There is less variety in bowling, more violent force.

According to Fazal Mahmud the one-day games are ruining the very spirit of cricket.

Fazal turned his attention to another trend in Pakistan cricket of levelling charges of betting and match-fixing, even against senior players. This is trying to run down a fine conglomerate, upset the balance of the national squad. If there is no solid proof, no allegation should be made.

Fazal thought that cricket high-ups must come forward to defeat the conspiracy against Pakistan cricket.

In London, Matthew Engel, editor of the respected Wisden cricketers' almanack, has stressed the need of an international inquiry into bettings, which have turned almost into scandals, and allegations of match-fixing.

Later in an interview to Sky Television he pointed out that the International Cricket Council (ICC) had enough powers to tackle the issue.

However, Engel crossed the limits of decency by singling out India and Pakistan for indulging in a deception. Their one-day tussles have no real meaning, he said. Engel's views appear considerably tinted and biased when everybody knows that the two countries are arch-rivals in sports, as in political affairs, and their duels in sporting fields, including cricket, are usually the toughest.

Investigations may be conducted on match-fixing and bribery but the malaise of betting and gambling can hardly be contained.

As the game's chronicles show cricket developed in England only for purposes of gambling. It was originally a village pastime but once the rural aristocrats thought that it was a medium for monetary stakes the game expanded. The interest in the art of cricket never waned, the batting techniques evolved; along with the swerve and seam bowling came the top-spin and googly but the game continued to serve as a medium for high stakes.

In the subcontinent, even before partition and independence the element of money and betting made many games popular and helped in their progress and advancement.

Gambling was usually attached to the Calcutta football duels between Mohammedan Sporting and Mohan Bagan or East Bengal. Even money was put on the exploits of Samad the Senior and Junior, Jumma Khan, Taj Mohammad Senior, Hafiz Rahim, Usman Jan, Emad and others. In the Aga Khan hockey in Bombay or the Beighton Cup in Calcutta the fields were full to capacity, with gambling by the fans forming a part of the recreational activity.

There were unofficial bettings in the exciting cricket matches in the Bombay Quadrangular and Pentangular. On a century of a leading player or his early dismissal bookies were sought by the enthusiasts of the game.

Betting and gambling are now an industry. Wisden's Engel is no angel; whatever stricture he may pass on the Indo-Pakistan limited-overs programme he cannot deny that his country's Ladbrokes and William Hill are camped in all the venues of England and even in other lands. It is a generalized phenomenon in Australia and the West Indies. Perhaps the Calcutta rioting in the 1996 World Cup was more due to hundreds of fans going to lose money to the betting cartels than India's collapse against Sri Lanka in the semi-finals.

Engel and the corps of English scribes cannot eliminate betting and gambling from cricket. It has come to stay with the game. But the call for action against match-fixing and bribery is a genuine one. Only cricket's international organization headquartered at Lord's, the ICC, can invite the representatives of cricket-playing nations, as also some associate members like UAE, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia to join in chalking out a formula to root out the scourge of match-fixing. All countries have to lend a helping hand in putting a stop to throwing the ties. A recipe has to be found to monitor and combat this menace. Offering of bribes for winning duels is abominable and the culprits must be punished. Once penal action is taken against some players the problem, which too is endemic in all cricketing centres, may decrease and may by stages come to an end.

There will have to be amendments and addenda to the ICC code of conduct but penalties will have to be imposed both by the international setup as well as the home organisations in their set criminal laws. Whatever the multinationals in these days of international marketing may do to foil the attempt to cleanse cricket of all monetary scandals steps have to be taken to get rid of the growing bribe and match-fixing problem.

While dealing with the vices of cricket, due especially to the world-level sponsorship and the heavy funds involved in it, Engel has again reopened his theme of a world championship of Test matches. Though he has done statistical research work to support his argumentation for the Test championship he has not presented a clear-cut format to convince the ICC, now headed by India's Jagmohan Dalmiya. Even the South African cricket supremo, Dr Ali Bacher, who usually believes in expansion of Test cricket in any form, will not take up the scheme without seeing the benefit accruing from the new five-day contests.

According to Engel through a full Test championship, instead of fixtures in separate countries, "both the goose and the golden egg will be consumed in the gluttony." Engel's programme will, to a considerable extent, lead to a drop in the menace of bribery and match-fixing. The enthusiastic crowd will more like to watch the games, the players' exploits and their mode and method of saving the dignity of the competing countries.

The Wisden editor wants an additional competition - world contest of one-dayers. Then there will be three types of global competition - a world championship of one-dayers, a World Cup of limited overs, as is being played now, and a world competition of Test matches. Cricket calendar will reach its saturation point. The players will pocket so huge chunks of money that there won't be any need for diverting attention to bribery and throwing the match, purely for earning money through black mail and wrong tactics.

Air Marshal (Retd) Nur Khan, former president of Pakistan cricket board, had presented a plan a few years ago for a global Test contest on the lines of the quadrennial one-day tournament. This meant the assemblage of the teams in one or two countries. The whole competition would not have taken more than two months for its completion if all nine Test-playing nations are featuring at five venues. The World Cup pattern, if followed, will be less complicated and cumbersome than any other mode and schedule to be introduced. Any other plan pleaded before like the points system would hardly be acceptable to world cricket authorities at a Lord's gathering.

Let the officialdom of cricket organisations throughout the world think over plans to launch the global Test contest. However, the main objective should be curbing the evil of match-fixing.

Source:: Dawn (https://dawn.com/)