WHEN the revelations about Mark Waugh and Shane Warne having accepted money from a bookmaker surfaced, cricket administrators around the world were expected to pull together in a a bid to root out the cancer from the system. If it had touched the Australians, went the reasoning, then things must indeed run much deeper than was thought. In the past, even bookmakers have been heard to comment that the two teams which cannot be bought are England and the Aussies.
But, in keeping with the current trend of trying to make others look bad and portray themselves as lily-white angels, administrators in several of the Test playing countries have instead resorted to floating all sort of distractions, using this rather sordid tactic to deflect attention focused on them.
After Waugh and Warne made their I-took-the-money-but-I-did-not-know-that-it-was-wrong-to-tell-him-about-the-weather statements, the Australian board has been desperate to escape from the limelight. Pakistan officials have made the most of the situation but then along came that great stalwart Dean Jones (more on him shortly) with the statement that he would be naming a player (and not a Sri Lankan or Pakistani) who had connections to bookmakers.
Jones has played a funny role ever since the Waugh-Warne story emerged. On radio, he has been vigorously defending both past and present Australian players. In short, portraying himself as a players' man, one of the crowd. Yet one must bear in mind that when there was talk last year of the Australian players going on strike over pay, the man named in news reports as captain of the team which was supposedly on stand-by was the same Jones. So, he must be in good with the establishment. Now Jones floats the story and tries to deflect the ball away to the subcontinent. So whose game is he playing?
But the officials on the subcontinent boards are adept at this game as well. Back they came -- at the next ICC meeting, slated to be held in Wellington on January 8, the three boards (Lanka, Pakistan and India) have hinted at pushing for a life ban on Warne and Waugh! Even Wes Hall couldn't have bowled a better bouncer.
Now we have news from Pakistan about radio statements by officials connected with the match-fixing inquiry, supposedly hinting that there is sufficient proof to indict one or more players. At the same time, there are hints that the whole inquiry will be submerged by the one which the ICC plans to launch; the latter, say knowledgeable sources, will be the usual ICC eyewash and we can all go back to spreading news about the weather to all and sundry.
The tragedy is that with all the game-playing going on, little will be done about the actual malady -- match-fixing. It does go on in most countries and it will continue that way. There have been hints that bookmakers involved have a mole in each and every team! If those who run the game are not inclined to take this seriously, then they as well need not be there.
And if if does begin to be spread abroad that there are such forces at work, there could well be a drop in match crowds. Nobody wants to see a match when the result has already been decided beforehand. The glorious uncertainty of the game is cricket's main attraction. Were some bookie and a couple of greedy players to remove this factor, then the game would no longer be the same. And fans, no matter who, no matter where, will certainly begin to switch off. That is the long-term danger.