The Pakistani cricket bet-fixing scandal

Things are bad enough for the people of Pakistan with the floods and constant bomb attacks by insurgents.

Now a handful of their heroic national cricketers have been accused of deliberately making bad plays in a match against England in order to profit from its betting.

The charges remain unproven while two investigations are completed. But already, the knives are out from cricketing experts and supporters who feel the game and country has been tarnished yet again.

The ordeal began when British newspaper News of the World published a story on August 28 containing allegations that Pakistani players, via their agent, made certain plays in a match in return for payment.

The newspaper gathered video evidence using their undercover reporter Mazher Mahmood (known as the ‘Fake Sheikh’ for his regular undercover exposés of celebrities and minor royals).

Pretending to be a gambler, Mahmood met the players’ agent, wealthy Surrey businessman Mazhar Majeed, on August 25 in a London hotel room, saying he was interested in paying for information about their fixed events.

He gave Majeed £140,000 cash as an “entry-ticket” into an existing scam based in India (whereby gamblers bet on results they know are going to happen). A further £10,000 had been given as an up-front deposit.

Majeed then told Mahmood he would prove he could deliver fixed outcomes in the fourth test match (5-day game) between England and Pakistan beginning the next day at Lord’s cricket ground in London.

He said “I am going to give you three no-balls to prove to you firstly that this is what’s happening. They’ve all been organised, ok? ...I’m telling you – if you play this right, you’re going to make a lot of money, believe me.”

For those wondering, a ‘no-ball’ is when the bowler (similar to a pitcher) places his foot over a specific line before he lets go of the ball.

Gambling on specific events like this in a game is known as ‘spot-betting’, with ‘spot-fixing’ being the fixing of it.

Majeed also boasted that actual match results had been fixed, and that Pakistan was prepared to lose two of its upcoming one-day games against England.

He said he has been “doing it with the Pakistan team for two and a half years and we’ve made masses and masses of money.”

He claimed to have opened Swiss and English bank accounts for the players and laundered the money through the Croydon FC football club that he owns.

Armed with this evidence, Mahmood then watched the London match unfold. And at the three predicted moments, two of the fast bowlers, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif overstepped the line, and by a whopping margin.

Even TV commentators at the time expressed amazement about how far the bowlers had overstepped.

The actual affect of the three no-balls was trivial and Pakistan ended up losing the game easily.

However, when the team returned to their hotel on the day the story was published, British detectives were waiting to interview the two bowlers, the captain Salman Butt and another player Kamran Akmal.

They also interviewed Majeed at the police station and charged him with conspiracy to defraud bookmakers. He was later released on bail.

Now two investigations are under way, one by the British police and one by the anti-corruption unit of cricket’s international governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC).

The ICC’s initial report is expected by the end of the week. In the meantime, they have decided to let the tour continue and allow the four named players to take part, on the basis of innocence until proven guilty.

They are due to play English county side Somerset on Thursday, and England in a shorter version ‘Twenty20’ game on Sunday. After that, another Twenty20 game and five one-day games against England are scheduled to be played.

If any remaining games are indeed cancelled due to the findings of the investigations, ticketholders will be refunded and a contingency fund exists to pay hosting venues compensation for any foregone revenue.

Reaction to the allegations has been strong. Fans booed them on the last day of the weekend’s match and again outside their hotel. Cricket officials have expressed outrage and some are disappointed that the tour is being allowed to continue.

Betting scandals have tarnished the sport before, with former South African captain Hansie Cronje and former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin both being expelled from the sport in 2000 for accepting bribes in exchange for results.

The Pakistani cricket team are among the lowest paid in international cricket, making them easy targets for crooked gamblers taking advantage of the billion-dollar illegal sports betting industry in India.

But to many unsurprised followers, this is just the latest in a series of bet-fixing incidents that have plagued the sport for over a decade.

By The Casual Truth

Photo – Pakistani players (from left) Mohammad Amir, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif.