Fine company: corruption charges and further development

Fine company: corruption charges and further development

The English game of cricket is now also up to snuff when it comes to sports cheating: in the One Day Internationals between England and Pakistan, runs are only incidentally involved. Instead, allegations of corruption and hand-wringing are the order of the day.

Sports fans who didn't grow up in the United Kingdom or one of its former colonies may still think cricket is a gentleman's sport. Players wear long pants, and there is a break for lunch and high tea. In addition, real international matches go on for five days - and in the end, there is often still no winner. This is predicted by some cricket betting apps.

The reality is different. Cricket has long since become a tough professional sport. For purists, "Tests" over five days are the only true form of cricket, but the so-called "One Day International Series," in which a winner is crowned on each day and the overall winner at the end, fits better in these fast-moving times.

Currently, one of these one-day series is underway in England against Pakistan, demonstrating the moral decay in this English sport. Ijaz Butt, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Association, claimed over the weekend that English players had been paid "huge sums of money" to deliberately lose the third match of the series last Friday at The Oval, one of the sport's iconic venues, in Kennington, Surrey. Andrew Strauss, the England captain, indignantly denied the allegations and threatened legal action. The English had even considered not playing the last two matches because of the accusations, but in the interest of their sport and the spectators, they decided to play the fourth match on Monday at "The Lord's" in London.

The result - England lost by 38 runs - made fewer headlines, however, than a tangible altercation between England's Jonathan Trott and Wahab Riaz. After a heated exchange, Trott grabbed the Pakistani by the neck after the latter threw his protective pads at him. It took an English coach and the New Zealand referee to separate the brawlers. Pakistani coach Waqar Younis further inflamed the atmosphere afterward. He refused to distance himself from the accusations made by his chairman, Butt.

Butt, once in the mood, immediately blew the whistle on the governing body, the International Cricket Board (ICB). He called on the ICB president to resign because the federation had suspended three Pakistani players for so-called "spot-fixings, reported https://tamildada.info/how-not-make-a-mistake-when-choosing-a-casino-on-the-internet/. This does not involve the postponement of an entire match, but only individual actions, which has invaluable advantages for rogue players: it is difficult to prove, and individual players can earn a dishonest extra income playing together with bettors without letting their teammates in on it. Cricket - is also at the sad height of sports cheating.