Pakistani cricket ‘not out’

It has been a sad few days. Cricket across the world has been seen in negative terms again. This time it has been tainted by the rather public haranguing of three Pakistani national team players and a somewhat dodgy agent whose role it was to spot-fix certain aspects of a particular match. What was rather disturbing was how the former captain, Salman Butt, tried to maintain his innocence, throwing all he had into fighting his legal battle when it was pretty clear from the outset that his goose was cooked. The sentencing judge gave him thirty months. He is already serving a ten-year, five of which are suspended. The other two remained to some extent silent, including someone who was arguably the best young bowler in the world, Mohamed Asif. He got a twelve month prison sentence. Mohammed Amir got a six month prison sentence.

While these three men were caught red-handed, it is clear that what they were a part of is only the tip of the iceberg. Match-fixing allegations in relation to international cricket players is not a new phenomena, however the audacity of these three coupled with the bravado of the dodgy agent was something else. Moreover, the offences were carried out on cricket’s hallowed ground, Lord’s.

Given how the game is so played by so many public schoolchildren of urban and city elites, and adulated by so many senior Englishmen in all walks of establishment life, the upshot of this investigation and trail was only ever going to be a rather unpleasant smack on the face of Pakistani cricket. But what is potentially more disturbing is how these four Pakistani were arguably only one part of a massive machinery of corruption in the game. While these four were found guilty of the charges against them, as determined by the courts, the real villains of the piece were elsewhere, and there they remain unchallenged. They are some very big money betting syndicates, some of which are found in India, where gambling is illegal. It has been driven underground and it is a law onto itself.

By implication, Pakistanis remain under a negative spotlight. Nor has the country of Pakistan been seen in glowing terms in the last few decades. Whether it comes to issues of corruption, bigotry, intolerance, terrorism, misogynism, and so on, it is not ‘cool’ to be a Pakistani. It is certainly ‘cooler’ to be Indian today. By not decrying the potential ‘coolness’ of Indian-ness in relation to Pakistani-ness or indeed the fact that it is in India where these big-time cricketing Mafioso are found can change the fact that Pakistan and Pakistanis once again face a heads-in-hands moment. And it happens far too often. One hundred and eighty million are in Pakistan today. And one thing remains for sure. Its people are pure enough even though its leaders are arguably less so.

Moreover, the cricketing talent is considerable in a country which lioness the game. The one thing that Pakistanis can be proud of is that their national game is played with such passion, vigour and sheer delight, although as history has too often shown us consistency can be problem (On a good day they are the best in the world. On a bad day, they can be so terrible it is shocking to even imagine it).

It is time to change Pakistani cricket by ensuring that the game of cricket played there and exported to cricket fans all over the world is bettered. The management of the national game needs to be improved so that the best have an equal chance of representing their country. Transparency is needed and barriers to entry removed. A payment structure needs to be initiated in order to make it competitive so that young players do not succumb to the pressures of the big money men prepared to use illegal means to make them all richer. And, finally, a firm culture needs to be developed which sees the idea of corruption as immoral and unethical, and simply intolerable.

The Pakistan Cricket Board needs a firm and clear line on this matter. As an organisation overseeing the governance of national cricket the right message needs to come from the top and filtered all the way down into all spheres of cricket in the country, effectively and purposively. The PCB has to be completely incorruptible. Let us just hope and pray that the immediate future of Pakistani cricket is brighter and that the best of the game is played by the best of the professionals who love and value it the most.