Cricket, corruption and treason!

[Rum]

Cricket, that most mysterious of games to the uninitiated has been hit by a 'scandal' here. I am not a cricket fan, though I understand the rules etc., but I was, a bit startled to hear today that following the discovery that some of the Pakistani national cricket team have taken bribes to make sure that 'no balls' are played at a particular point in the game (this will not affect the outcome of the game, but in Pakistan people can 'spot bet' on such things..and never mind what a no ball is), they are likely to be charged with treason in Pakistan!

Now cheating at cricket may have been punishable by banishment to the colonies in a past era, but treason?! Over the top maybe?

[Pappa]

On the news, some Pakistanis were calling for them to be executed.

[JimC]

On the news, some Pakistanis were calling for them to be executed.

Execution is perhaps marginally excessive, but it's a damn bad show none the less; simply not cricket...

[Clinton Huxley]

Damned bad show. Should be sentenced to cleaning the bilges of a first rate, with their tongues.

[klr]

What I can't understand is why any bookmaker would ever accept the following sort of bet in the first place:

"I want to bet a king's ransom that player X will - in over Y of such-and-such an innings - bowl a no-ball for the third (or whatever) ball of the over."

The very proposal stinks to high heaven.

On the news, some Pakistanis were calling for them to be executed.

Execution is perhaps marginally excessive, but it's a damn bad show none the less; simply not cricket...

I was going to start a thread on this yesterday and call it "It's just not cricket ..."

[Feck]

Yeah stone your daughter to death because she looks at a boy , that's fine, cultural expression but make some money on a fake bet and that should be a death penalty .. ummm Pakistan sensible place

[Durro]

JimC used the phrase "it's just not cricket" and really, this does sum it up. For the benefit of the non-cricketing nations, cricket is viewed as a gentleman's game, played with ethics, sportsmanship and integrity. There are regularly instances where players own up to being out when they have been judged not out, or players admitting that they didn't quite get their fingers under the ball for an ankle high catch. It's common usage to use the phrase "it's just not cricket" and it means that something hasn't been done fairly or honorably.

So this fixing of matches cuts far deeper than an act of bastardry and cheating. It's also about dishonouring an honourable game and violating the spirit of the game as much as the rules.

Pakistanis are passionate about their cricket. In a shithole of a nation, rife with poverty, terrorism, corruption and now fucking lethal floods, cricket is one of the few avenues the country has to be proud and take their place on the world stage. I can understand the grievous injury to the national psyche, but of course I don't condone the threats of violence against the cricketers. But I do understand the genesis of it.

[Hermit]

It's common usage to use the phrase "it's just not cricket" and it means that something hasn't been done fairly or honorably.

An entire test series comes under that rubric: "Only one side is playing cricket out there" - Bill Woodfull to England manager Plum Warner, 1932.