Match Fixing
MATCH FIXING
Heroism is essential to sport and cricket is no exception. Boys need players to worship and so their fathers. Film stars are wonderful but all know that their world is fantasy-with players it is different. Their art is real. Today, the line dividing the rigged and the real becoming blurred and this blurredness promise nothing for the game but an uncertain future.
Cricket, a great a gentleman’s game is shrouded in shame. It is a game stained beyond caliper measure. Every sport is allowed its inadequacies as long as intrinsically its heart is viewed as clean. However Hansie Cronje’s admission that be took money from a bookie has rocked cricket’s foundations and changed the way this game is viewed. Like a virus betting and match-fixing have seeped into crickets’ bloodstream to the point where the essence of cricket has been shattered. The foundation of cricket is its credibility and it is shaking like a leaf in a sudden storm. We ask again and again-where did talent end and the fix began? How can a gifted team lose and lesser team win. Batsmen charge out and are bowled, bowlers, send down wides in a final over and viewers are charged up. This is cricket at its best when its stimulates the senses, but now every failure will require explanation and the authenticity of heroism will be questioned.
Match-fixing is not a new phenomenon. First time in 1979-80 it was alleged that in the third test of the India-Pakistan series in Mumbai, the Pakistan team lost the test internationally. In 1992-93 Aussie Dean Jones claims that an Indian offered him dollar 50,000 to reveal information. Similarly in 1993, 1994, 1996, many players claimed that they were offered money either to give information to play badly and lose the game. In 1998 the Australian Cricket Board admitted that Mark Waugh and Shane Warne had given information on the pitch and weather to bookies and now in 2000 Hansie Cronje’s admission that for dollar 10,000 be passed on information to a bookie shook
Heroism is essential to sport and cricket is no exception. Boys need players to worship and so their fathers. Film stars are wonderful but all know that their world is fantasy-with players it is different. Their art is real. Today, the line dividing the rigged and the real becoming blurred and this blurredness promise nothing for the game but an uncertain future.
Cricket, a great a gentleman’s game is shrouded in shame. It is a game stained beyond caliper measure. Every sport is allowed its inadequacies as long as intrinsically its heart is viewed as clean. However Hansie Cronje’s admission that be took money from a bookie has rocked cricket’s foundations and changed the way this game is viewed. Like a virus betting and match-fixing have seeped into crickets’ bloodstream to the point where the essence of cricket has been shattered. The foundation of cricket is its credibility and it is shaking like a leaf in a sudden storm. We ask again and again-where did talent end and the fix began? How can a gifted team lose and lesser team win. Batsmen charge out and are bowled, bowlers, send down wides in a final over and viewers are charged up. This is cricket at its best when its stimulates the senses, but now every failure will require explanation and the authenticity of heroism will be questioned.
Match-fixing is not a new phenomenon. First time in 1979-80 it was alleged that in the third test of the India-Pakistan series in Mumbai, the Pakistan team lost the test internationally. In 1992-93 Aussie Dean Jones claims that an Indian offered him dollar 50,000 to reveal information. Similarly in 1993, 1994, 1996, many players claimed that they were offered money either to give information to play badly and lose the game. In 1998 the Australian Cricket Board admitted that Mark Waugh and Shane Warne had given information on the pitch and weather to bookies and now in 2000 Hansie Cronje’s admission that for dollar 10,000 be passed on information to a bookie shook