First of all, lets get this into perspective and then we can think about what actions to take and the rout from here onwards
At the moment as far as I know the allegations are that some players took money from a 'cricket agent' to bowl deliberate no balls at certain moments in the match so as a punter could win on a spread bet.
The police have confiscated the mobile phones of several players and released the 'cricket agent' on bail.
So now what. well from my perspective
1 All the individuals involved should be suspended.Its a precautionary suspension, they are not guilty until proven otherwise.This is done to protect the parties concerned and the game of cricket and the paying spectator.Its a win win solution. Once it's clear who did what or even if anything was done, then disciplinary action can be taken.
2) Bandying about 'country bans' and or 'life bans' is just plain nonsense for me.
I seem to remember England cricket captains being filmed cheating (rubbing dirt on the ball) and no real action being taken. I don't condone cheating in any form, but let's face it spread betting is an incitement to cheating.
In rugby you could bet on when the scrum will be and tell the player to fumble (say in the first ten, ) or in football when the throw in will be (and tell them when to kick the ball out.)
People who say 'Its just not cricket' are naive and really this type of thing happens in every sport.
3 The discipline should be on a case by case scenario.We have to avoid 'blanket' applications.We can recommend punishments and then perhaps listen to the factors(youth,poverty,or whatever)
4 We certainly can't ban Pakistan as a nation from international cricket because A) its a pivotal nation and we risk splitting the game further into political camps
B) It serves no purpose to tar the country with the same brush. I'm sure there are innocent players in the camp.
C I'm not sure it works effectively (re South Africa, Zimbabwe) but I'm open to persuasion on this point.
TNOTW certainly gets with sting tactics,(and people with higher profiles have been stung, (sarah fergason)) and one could question thier tactics.
but the fact that we are talking about a no ball incident just shows us that this is the tip of the ice berg.
Cricket is a game where instead of bribing 11 or 15 , you can bribe one of the two openers (either bowler or batsman) and place bets on it.It's difficult to bet on a goal or a try, but a wicket is another problem.Even just bribing a player to tread on the wicket is a solution.
The rules for cricket (or laws) perhaps need tweaking, and perhaps the governing body needs to work with the betting industry to decide what can be bet on and what cannot.
If thats possible(and I doubt it is)
What punishments would I like to see? effective ones, but all to often in cricket we don't see it. Problems with positive drug testing and betting have been part of the game for a while, and I seem to recall Botham's ashes being involved in a betting scam.
When players and officials act as if there are no conscequences to thir actions then this is the result.
Yes there is space for redemption and after serving bans, players can come back. But if they make the same mistake again, then perhaps their career is over.
The ICC is now at the crossroads and its an organisation that's in the tussel of a fight for money and tv rights with cricket as a dim third. A new, independant governing body is now urgently needed if the specator and fan , sponser and investor are to have any faith in what they watch, or cricket will be the loser.Its time cricket playing nations stopped bickering and fighting over who knows what and that what's best for cricket is done.
