Spot fixing Scandal- ACSU failed once again
on December 12th, 2010 at 10:33 am
ICC and ACSU were handed over a perfect opportunity to strike a major blow to the illegal betting underworld by the NOTW sting operation but it seems that due to inherent incompetence or limitations they just limited the scope of their investigations to the players and have failed to widen the scope of their investigation by cracking down on the bookmakers.
Punishing a few players is not going to eradicate corruption in cricket, the players are just pawns and are expendables, the real culprits are those who run this underground betting Mafia and those who lure young cricketers into corruption. Unless a few kingpins of this illegal business are brought to justice, corruption will not get eradicated from cricket.
It is naive to believe that Mazhar Majeed was the king pin of this illicit business he was just an operative of a huge a network.
Why so far no arrests have been made of his contacts in Delhi and Dubai. Scotland Yard arrested and interrogated him, ACSU went through all of his phone and travel records but so far the focus of their investigation is only a handful Pakistani players, why with the help of Interpol and member nations they have not hunted down the main bookies who were controlling Mazhar Majeed. There have been several indications made by ACSU that Mazhar was in regular contact with bookies in Delhi and Dubai.
Either their investigation has completely failed or they are not interested in launching a major offensive against the betting mafia.
The ACSU was set up in 2000 after a match-fixing scandal that led to life bans for Test captains Hansie Cronje (South Africa), Mohammad Azharuddin (India) and Salim Malik (Pakistan).
Since then ICC has claimed on multiple occasions that match fixing in cricket has been brought down to a reducible minimum through tougher laws and vigilance.
But if one believes in the claims made by Mazhar Majeed in the NOTW video then both match fixing and spot fixing are still rampant. The ACSU has only played the role of a scare crow during the last 11 years and have done nothing else. They covered up their embarrassment after the NOTW sting operation by stating that Mazhar Majeed, and a few Pakistani players were under investigations, but nobody asked them why they couldn’t apprehend the culprits earlier? It clearly shows how incompetent the people at ACSU are? If the NOTW sting operation had not been carried out they would still be watching these corrupt activities happening right under their nose.
From investigation point of view the match fixing scandal of 1999 was a huge success. A single recorded telephone call between Hansie Cronje and an Indian bookie by Delhi Police uncovered the biggest match fixing scandal which exposed players from almost every test playing nation and resulted in life bans for three test captains. Cronje would have never confessed if the Delhi police had not done their job professionally and had not gone after the bookmakers.
Players from all countries have been involved in match fixing in one way or the other in the past and ACSU should have no reason to believe that the problem is currently only prevalent in Pakistan team and Mazhar Majeed was the only bookmaker left in the world. Australian, English and SriLankan players in past escaped major punishments because their respective boards protected them and swept everything under the carpet.
It is strangely coincidental that in every incident which involved players from Australia or England the allegations were either flatly rubbished after an in-house inquiry by their respective boards or they were turned into a crime of no material significance like selling the pitch report or team combination etc. The testimonials of the players were accepted as it is and were not challenged or investigated.
The Pakistani spot fixing trio should get a very harsh punishment but the whole exercise is futile if no action is going to be taken against the match fixing Mafia.
The officials are bought by bookies too idiots!
Maaz
The only difference between Junaid and Aamer is of pace, Junaid is more in the mold of Asif.
The problem is that he is still too raw Aamer got the opportunity to learn all the tricks in the Academy under Muddassar for atleast three years as a result when he got selected he was a finished product.
Asad Ali is another bowler who is said to be in the mold of Asif but as we have seen with Tanvir Ahmad and a few others just having the ability to seam and swing is not enough, the game IQ counts a lot as a bowler has to bowl six deliveries in an over the outcome depends on the choice he makes at the time of bowling regardless of the skill. Asif was the most clever bowler I have ever seen he easily sets up the batsman into his plan and that was the main reason he was so successful. I think he was one of a kind and very difficult to replace.
Valid argument indeed but there seems to be a misconception
Well I am thinking from the domestic circuit in Pakistan. In fact I was praising Aamir a year before he made his international debut for Pakistan and people were arguing that he is too young and he needs time. There are many bowlers who I honestly feel can be as talented and effective as Aamir was. As Wasim would know Junaid Khan is certainly one of them and his domestic stats are arguably even better than Aamir’s. I feel we have more than enough talent to replace the trio as long as we give it time. We can afford to take a firm stance against them.
I can’t think of anyone in the domestic arena who has the same bowling style as Asif and can be anywhere near as effective as he was. Any suggestions here Wasim?
That’s the general point I was trying to make
Stani
If we consider all three formats then Aamer’s loss is bigger than Asif. But I was just thinking from test match point of view there is no bowler in the world with the skill which Asif possess, not even Aamer.
Maz,
I disagree. I think Amir will be a bigger loss. Dont get me wrong, they are both fairly unique and Asif is a brilliant classical style bowler but Amir is prodigious. You do not get bowlers doing what he has done with such control at that age. He is also more effective than Asif. Not only in more forms of the game, but on a wider mix of pitches and conditions, and at more times during innings i.e. Asif can’t bowl at the death. Chuck in Amir’s age to the mix, and he is a huge loss, that’s if they get banned for life that is.
In a country like Pakistan which is blessed with endless young blooded talent, especially on the bowling front, replacing top class players are not really a problem. We have many bowlers like the calibre or potential of people like Mohammad Aamir and therefore he is “replaceable.” However, bowlers with the accuracy, patience, intelligence and cunningness like Asif are found in a minority. Therefore, we will miss Asif more then Aamir believe it or not. Aamirs are available in abundance for us, people like Asif were unique.
Clarifying here. Aamir is extremely special too and I am a big supporter of him. All I am saying is that a bowler with the style of Asif we won’t find any time soon, whereas we can with Aamir due to the quality/ great fast bowling producers we are as a country.
In terms of pace and physical strength Asif is barely talented compared to a typical Pakistani player. However, he is so damn effective with his excellent cricketing brain and hard working game plan which makes him as special as he is. He can exploit areas where he knows batsmen are uncertain by having a simple, controlled and resilient game plan. That is what stands out about him individually. On the field he is a genius, the less things I say about him off the field the better. He had huge potential to be one of the greatest of all time had he refrained from his extracurricular activities.
Sad news if true. Apparently Brendon and Vettori will miss the T20 series against PK due to injuries. These are big blows for New Zealand. We want a series victory yes, but we want it to be challenging and competitive for PK. Now it might be a very one sided affair as I doubt NZ have the amount of depth we have to cover for the big absences like we do. Hopefully, they will be back for the longer formats as the tour progresses.
Yes its a good opportunity, however the NZ team is already having a tough time as it is and this will only further add to their woes. Plus, with the WC so near it wont give us valid preparation playing against an inexperienced second string side. A victory is always special, but it would feel even better if we could achieve it against world class players as opposed to what we will probably be facing when the series commences next Sunday.
Stani
I know Majeed was not a big fish and that is exactly my point, he was working for bookies in Dubai and India in a few newspapers even names of the bookies he was working with were mentioned so then why those guys were not arrested or atleast questioned.
Wasim,
Whether or not ACSU or any other agency could have got leads from Majeed to others, I’m not sure. It seemed to me that he only concentrated on the Pak team and wasn’t a very big fish in the fixing world and dint have many links.
I definitely agree that others must be up to it, and that the failure of a full and thorough investigation across cricket would let some get away or cover their tracks. If some from other countries were up to something, they probably would have stopped for a while now whilst things settle down. For the ICC to think it was just a Pakistani problem is just naive and dangerous. I would go far enough to say that should anything happen in the future with another sides player, then the ICC have to be held accountable. Sending papers out to players to sign is not going to achieve anything
Stani
If an inspector of Dehli police can reach the bookies then I am sure with the help of Interpol or ScotLand Yard ACSU could have hunted down the main characters under whom Majeed was operating.
The focus has only been on Pakistani cricketers for quite some time I have seen many shady performances from players of other countries specially Srilanka, WestIndies and South Africa but nobody questions them.
People are talking about life bans or five year bans on the Pakistani cricketers but Marlon Samuels recieved just a 2 year ban. Indians won’t even allow ACSU to monitor IPL, Australians if they get caught either their board gives them a clean chit or through a collective effort by the cricket media and ACB it is declared an innocent mistake and the players get off the hook with a slap on the wrist.
There is no doubt that in last five years the problem of corruption gradually got out of control in Pakistan team more so under the current managment and something of this sort was required but nothing major can be achieved until the main betting mafia dons are brought to justice.
Wasim,
I think the difficulty is that these guys are not in one place and neither do the players know where they are. It’s probably possible to go down to the level of the agent, as in the case of Mazhar Majeed but going any further is very difficult because the only link between Majeed and the bookies is probably a mobile phone number, something the bookies constantly change. They can just disappear. I’m sure sine the Cronje scandal, bookies have upped their game. Plus, it’s questionable whether that is the ICC’s jurisdiction.
Whether the ICC have tried or are trying to investigate further than just our players, we cannot say right now. It would be silly for them to alert anyone further I think.
I do agree with your point though that ACSU have been asleep whilst the players have been messing around in illegal activities. It took a relatively simple sting by a tabloid to unearth all this but with all the millions ACSU are spending, and with their supposed links, they could not even sniff amateurs like Butt, Asif and Amir out.