Battle of the Infamous

[Furball]

Cronje. I echo wpd's sentiments. Ravi's a **** and all but it'd be a travesty if he got up here.

Well yes, but Cronje's dead, which AFAIC is a major setback for anyone up against Shastri.

 

[Daemon]

Botham

 

[BoyBrumby]

Asif, pretty conclusively.

Whatever one thinks of Sir Beef, he was at least always trying to win.

 

[BeeGee]

Botham.

I just don't like the prick.

 

[uvelocity]

botham. nobody does

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Botham.

I just don't like the prick.

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Quarter-final 4 Results:

Mohammad Asif - 6
Ian Botham - 4

Asif Beefy had a chance though.

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Round 4: The Septic Semis

1. Hansie Cronje
2. Mohammad Asif
3. Roy Gilchrist
4. Salim Malik

 

[AaronK]

Salim Malik for me

Because he actually threw matches..

asif did spot fixing but malik did it all.. fixed matches.. got other players involved and he still claims that he is innocent..

I will not be surprise if a Pakistani win this.. they had some of the worst players and charactors over the years..

I am just surprise that guys like wasim akram, Kamran akmal, shaoib malik, Ijaz ahmad and salman butt hasn't made it this far..

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Salim Malik for me

Because he actually threw matches..

asif did spot fixing but malik did it all.. fixed matches.. got other players involved and he still claims that he is innocent..

I will not be surprise if a Pakistani win this.. they had some of the worst players and charactors over the years..

I am just surprise that guys like wasim akram, Kamran akmal, shaoib malik, Ijaz ahmad and salman butt hasn't made it this far..

Butt lost to Malik in the round of 16. The other 4, to my knowledge, weren't brought to trial or banned for lack of evidence.

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Semi-final 1

May the worst man win.


Hansie Cronje (South Africa)

Dat ass.

Crimes:

- Protagonist of the most spectacular match-fixing scandal
- Looked a little too suave in leather jackets for his own good
- Bringing down Herschelle Gibbs and Henry Williams with him
- Chucked a stump through the umpire's door after Mark Waugh was given a match-winning life
- Confession starts at 2:07

"Of course the team decided against taking the bribe, but even so, it hadn't been an immediate and strong reaction to an activity totally abhorrent to the notion of sport." - Herschelle Gibbs on Cronje's first offer

"It wasn't even enough to cover my legal expenses." - On the size of his bookie payments

"If you look at my entire life, how I played, how I trained, losing didn't come easy to me." - Hansie doesn't take the easy way out

"Since that day, in a moment of stupidity and weakness, I allowed Satan and the world to dictate terms to me rather than the Lord." - Cronje revealing Lucifer's terrible shot selection

"You bet it has Mark, my money's definitely on them for sure, 7 for 635, they'd be odds on the Australians. New Zealand I'd wager will have a devil of a time trying to score that many. The result of this match pretty much a foregone conclusion really, and that's how I like them Mark. Yes Mark, it's a safe bet they would be ****ting themselves, I'll give you the tip. Selectors are gambling on some of the new players finding form, and I know a couple of senior players desperately needed to fix their games." - Billy Birmingham, The 12th Man

"Cronje once even agreed on $15,000 for a fix." - Osman Samiuddin

"Even the testimony last Thursday of Cronje, the captain of the 'rainbow nation' so mesmerised by pots of gold, proved anti-climatic. Those expecting some sort of South African Moriarty at the centre of a web of deceit were instead confronted by the shambling shell of a man, mortified by his weakness for 'easy money' and still strangely oblivious to the extremity of his disgrace." - Gideon Haigh during Cronje's trial

Why was Hansie buried rather than cremated?

They couldn't find anyone to throw the match.

even the design of the leather jacket betrayed what a tedious **** he was

Croft wins over Cronje because the latter had the decency to crash a plane into the side of a mountain.

Cronje is a distillation of everything rotten about the sport. Corrupt, corrupting and hypocritical. The devil of the details makes one spew too: a ****ing leather jacket? Was ever a soul sold as cheaply as cricket's?

Never mind the tragedy of Cronje's death, it's a darn shame he didn't play more ODIs than he did.

I remember as a fan, just wanting my team to win, Hansie was captain, my captain and could do no wrong. At the same time, I remember older people who hated the SA team and would literally support any other team but them, these people mostly still do.

For me, the main source of bitterness was that. It was sometimes hard to be a SA supporter (especially a non-white one,) you were surrounded by people who disliked the team yet you still had faith in this guy, his pious image of righteousness, the certainty in your heart that you may lose but this team and captain would never, ever give up without a fight. He was *the man*

And then the news broke in India, my uncle called us up just before school and told us to turn on the TV, he'd always said someone's going to fall from grace soon so he was almost reveling in it. Now, I'm of Indian origin but that mattered little. Who were those (probably corrupt & overweight) Indian cops to say those horrid things?

He'd never do that, our Hansie, pure as the driven snow he was. He did do it though and it became more and more apparent after every passing hour, but that hope was still there. Hansie still denied it and for me, that meant it was still nothing more than lies. Then he said he did it and that was that.

I'm still a big Proteas fan and always will be but SA cricket has never recovered from that day. He shattered the image of the sport, he sold us out for a frakking leather jacket and a meagre handful of silver.

Salim Malik (Pakistan)

Crimes:

- Darth Sidious of match-fixing
- Throwing away a 100-Test career of somewhat decent batsmanship to do so
- Demanding a job as Pakistan batting coach after all this miscellany
- Safe pair of hands
- Rashid Latif resigned in protest after hearing about Malik's lobbying for coach, then re-applied after Malik was told to **** off by PCB

"One could not really imagine how a player of his apparently good nature and conduct fall into such a sinister game of making illegal millions." Col. Rafi Nasim

"You know better than me." - Malik when asked if cricket in the 1990s was corrupt

"My first instinct was disgust that this low-life of a prick thought that loyalty to my country was for sale." - Steve Waugh after receiving an offer from Malik, before a match that Australia lost by one wicket

"Because they are white, I am sorry to say, and I am black I am out of cricket and they're still playing. There are many incidents. A couple of other white people are still playing. All the fault is with the Asian side." - Malik alleging racism in sport

"It was just like we are today," he said. "We were sitting in a room together...but the thing about white players is you can't trust them. The bastards have weird minds." - Malik proving racism in sport

"After being stuffed by 157 runs, Intikhab thought a group hug was in order. Latif told the court he was willing to embrace Malik but Malik 'did not respond positively.'" - Gideon Haigh

"A Test cricketer like me doesn't need any coaching course or any certificate. I have the ability to help the batsmen overcome their problems, which have been the main hurdle in team's performance." - Salim offers to help players cheat more efficiently

Shadiest looking cricketer ever.

His corruption really makes one wonder just what was really going on in his innings in the '92 WC semi-final and final.

Salim Malik is a known gambler . I have a friend here and Salim Malik owes him some money too ...

Just because others were (probably) involved, doesn't make what Malik did any less unforgiveable.

malik was a piece of ****

Salim Malik.

****ing match fixer.

Damning Malik with the faintest possible praise:

Ranatunga though a much better team leader, and definitely a better guy than Salim.

 

[Bahnz]

at Cronje's picture. Gold!

Cronje

 

[morgieb]

Malik because Cronje at least had the decency to fly a plane into a cliff.

 

[uvelocity]

malik. both matchfixers but malik an even more hateable ****

 

[BoyBrumby]

Tricky. A match up worthy of the occasion, it must be said. CW knows its cricketing clients.

For all Malik has to (un)recommend him, I'm leaning towards Cronje. The religious hypocrisy aspect just tips the scales and, whilst he is most assuredly as dead as Jacob Marley, it should probably be noted that if he wasn't too fecking mean to buy a ticket for a passenger plane he'd never have been on the cargo aircraft that crashed in the first place.

&, althpough I'm sure it's a tragedy for his family, his death did at least spare the wider cricketing community the emetic redemption story where the beetle-browed client prostrated himself before his god and was re-embraced unto the heaving Afrikaner bosom.

 

[fredfertang]

Cronje, would have been the other way round, but I take on board what Heef said about Malik which saves him

 

[Teja.]

At this stage, I simply have to resort to the wisdom of my gut and Malik just seems like a much more detestable figure.

 

[Furball]

Cronje wins on account of getting Williams and Gibbs involved - a dick move of the highest order.

 

[Uppercut]

Cronje, would have been the other way round, but I take on board what Heef said about Malik which saves him

What did Heef say about Malik?

Cronje for me. He looks like a scrotum and his testimony never stops making me want to vomit.

 

[fredfertang]

In defence of my quoted post from many a moon ago, Salim Malik was a thoroughly nice chap when he played for Essex.

I know he was a cheat an' all, but he's not all bad.

This one