Cricket is a sport that has repeatedly garnered match-fixing, forcing the foundations of a ‘fair play’ sport. Cricket is able to be manipulated despite cricket governing bodies and the International Cricket Council (ICC) taking strict anti-corruption measures.
This article looks into a few of cricket’s most relevant match-fixing cases.
What Is Match Fixing?
The simplest definition of match fixing is manipulating a cricket match or any bit of that match for financial benefit, predominantly from betting syndicates.
But it can be anything from spot-fixing, where a player deliberately performs poorly during certain parts of the game, like a single over. This act tears apart the sport and has serious consequences for the players and the teams.
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Hansie Cronje Scandal (2000)
The involvement of South African captain Hansie Cronje was one of the earliest. Cronje’s leadership and skill were on show, but he was being accused of taking bribes from the bookmakers to fix matches.
Cronje became the first player to throw the ball of his wicket to Indian police, recording phone calls in 2000 that exposed discussions between himself and bookies. But at first, he denied the claims, but later admitted his guilt and was given life in the ban. It was a wake-up call to the cricket world, even the most respected players were vulnerable.
The 2010 Pakistan Spot-Fixing Scandal : Match-fixing
A decade later another major scandal broke out over top Pakistani cricketers. Fast bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif and captain Salman Butt were not found guilty until a Test match against England in 2010 when they were shown to deliberately bowl no balls where a time was specified.
Derby and Oldbury magistrates’ hearing was attended by a bookmaker who had bribed the players to fix it. There were bans and legal consequences, including prison time, for the players. The incident brought the international cricket head to the collapse of the gambling syndicates and introduced strict anti-corruption rules by the ICC.
Recent Scandals: T20 World Cup 2024
The latest match fixing cases in cricket have come to light on the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup. Kenya’s former cricketer allegedly approached an Ugandan player twice to ‘influence’ the match results. The ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) promised swift action when the player reported the incident.
And the fact that this scandal is still coming to light shows just how much attention is being paid to players from smaller, less financially comfortable cricketing nations. All that preventive measures do is fool players into thinking that it is time to make a quick buck, but even that proves no stronger as more and more players only see the money and continue to see it as corruption, which continues to be a running battle for the cricket authorities.
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Conclusion
Cricket’s credibility takes a knock as there grows concern over match-fixing in the sport. However, cricket’s governance has changed following historical cases like Hansie Cronje and the 2013 IPL scandal. Not for the better since then, as seen in the T20 World Cup 2024. Now it is up to governing bodies, players, and fans to uphold the integrity of the game.
With cricket continuing to succeed around the world, there will be an increasing need for tighter monitoring, education, and transparent rule enforcement to remove the sport of corruption and ensure its spirit remains alive in the future.